


I don't want to be friends, I want to love you

by Wayhaught_is_my_therapy



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Awkward Flirting, Coming Out, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Feelings, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Kissing, Nicole to the rescue, Romance, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Waverly has a little bit of abandonment issues, don’t worry it’ll get resolved, i like to think I’m somewhat funny at times, im sorry i suck at summarys, two oblivious love struck gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 37,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25144159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wayhaught_is_my_therapy/pseuds/Wayhaught_is_my_therapy
Summary: Waverly and Nicole are Juniors in high school, struggling with the pressures of typical school drama, family problems, and coming to terms with their feelings for one another. Will they end up together? Or will they decide their friendship is too important to risk? Oh how a game of truth or dare can change their relationship, and their lives.
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 134
Kudos: 591





	1. Not as planned

**Author's Note:**

> So here's a high school fic, because this was just stuck in my head.  
> I really hope you guys enjoy this! I have more chapters, so please let me know what you guys think!

Waverly wasn't the kind of person who stayed up all night lying in bed and staring up at her ceiling obsessing over someone. It wasn't her style. Life’s too short to dwell on people who wouldn't think twice about you. But this is different. This person was different. This girl was different. She made her feel things she had never felt before and it terrified her.

All of this was new to her. All of it. It's not like she had never noticed girls. Of course she had. She could admit when girls were attractive. That had never bothered her. Girls admire other girls all of the time. Their clothes, their makeup, their curves… ok, maybe not that last one. 

She had never considered the possibility that she wasn't straight. She had a boyfriend all throughout her Sophomore year. Champ Hardy, captain of the football team and an absolute douche. Why she stayed with him so long not even she knew, but everyone was telling her to break it off. One day she found him in the back of his truck with Samantha Baker, and that was finally the breaking point for her. She felt free in more ways than one that day. 

She knew her friends wouldn't care if she was into girls. They're all way too close for that to get in the way of their friendship. Except one of them might care, but the reason definitely wasn't the same as the rest. Nicole was her best friend, but how would she feel about being the main interest in Waverly’s dreams? How would she feel finding out she had a crush on her? But none of that mattered because Waverly didn’t have a crush on her. She was straight. They both were.

Although she sometimes wondered if maybe her best friend had been questioning. Every now and then she got a weird vibe from her that she couldn’t pinpoint. There was also one day Wynonna made a joke that made Nicole turn red and hit her in the arm, giving her a glare that could kill simultaneously. Interestingly enough, Wynonna wouldn’t make a single joke after that day about Nicole and her love for “pussycats”. Waverly chalked her suspicion of Nicole up to just being optimistic. 

She was closer to Nicole than she was with anyone on the cheer squad, besides Chrissy. She didn’t want to risk possibly losing that bond just because of a possibility of Nicole liking girls, so she never pursued it any further. 

Everything was going perfectly fine between them. They talked everyday at school, walked to their classes together even if they were out of Nicole’s way (but she always insisted), and then sometimes hung out after Waverly’s cheer practice. On the nights they couldn’t, they were practically glued to their phones texting each other about everything and nothing.

Things were great. And definitely not complicated. That is until tonight, when they were dared to kiss each other in Stephanie Jones’ basement.

Earlier in the night the cheer squad had agreed to meet at Stephanie’s house for some games and some alcohol as a celebration to the end of the football season. There weren’t any parties until the next night and they wanted to celebrate immediately.

Chrissy had told Waverly that she should bring Nicole, considering Nicole had been Waverly’s ride to practices and games for nearly the whole season until Waverly had gotten her Jeep for her birthday. A red beauty that her aunt Gus and uncle Curtis bought with most of the money they had saved for her that summer. 

Nicole seemed to jump at the chance to be able to hang out with Waverly, however, and didn’t mind tagging along. “It’s either you or Wynonna tonight, and don’t tell her I said this, but the obvious answer is you.” Nicole had joked. Waverly knew that she wasn’t being completely serious, but something about the look in her eyes made her heart flutter.

Everything was fine when they had gotten to Stephanie's house. Chrissy pulled out the alcohol, Rosita grabbed the shot glasses, and everyone sat down in a big circle in the basement. It started out as all gossiping and talking about boys. Mainly about Beth’s newest fling with Pete Yorke or the seven different guys Stephanie had been entertaining. Waverly didn’t really have much to add to the conversation except when they would ask her about Champ. Nicole didn’t speak at all.

As it got a little later most of the squad went home, deciding that they wanted to go to sleep earlier in order to stay up all night for the party tomorrow night. After about an hour it was just Waverly, Nicole, Chrissy, and Stephanie. They made the circle smaller and grabbed a few beers, figuring they could play a game of truth or dare. 

It started out innocent enough, just the typical “send a text to blank” or “tell me about blank”. As the night progressed the questions and dares started getting a little more personal. That's how Waverly found herself being dared to kiss Nicole.

_“At least 10 seconds.” Stephanie had declared._

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_“No tongue required though.” Chrissy had clarified. Ever the thinker. Like that was going to be the problem._

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_Waverly would be lying if she said she hadn't noticed Nicole in a not so friendly way. She had. Her short, red hair that went a little past her chin and always had the perfect waves. It was the perfect compliment to her striking deep brown eyes. The eyes that pierced through her soul every time they looked at each other. The way her laugh bubbled out of her chest and made light shine in any room they were in. The way their eyes immediately found each other in a crowd, causing her to flash that perfect dimpled smile that brought her to her knees. They always seemed to gravitate towards one another._

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_The second she heard that evil dare muttered, she knew she was screwed. Yet another lie would be her saying she had never thought about kissing Nicole. She always shut those thoughts down when they came up and chalked it up to her wondering what it would be like to kiss a girl. She was her closest friend so it made sense it was her. Right?_

_____ _

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_So if that was just it why was her heart hammering in her chest, threatening to break out? It's not like it was her first kiss. She’d kissed guys before. Guys._

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_It's not like it would be weird. They were two straight best friends. Easy 10 seconds and that's all._

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_“Hey look, we don't have to do this if you don't want to.” Nicole said, pulling Waverly out of her thoughts. She looked up and met a pair of those beautiful brown eyes, filled with concern. “It’s just a stupid dare, we can just say no. No harm done.” Nicole tried to give Waverly a reassuring smile, but her nerves were easily read by the brunette._

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_Waverly felt the disappointment twist in her gut like a knife. Did she not want to kiss her? Is that why she was being so adamant that they didn't have to? Why did she even care what Nicole thought?_

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_“No no no, I want to.” She quickly stammered. I-I-I mean I don't care. Why wouldn't I? It's just a dare it's not like it would mean anything right? Friends kiss all the time.” Waverly internally chastised herself. God, she really had a problem with rambling when she was nervous. Which she wasn’t, she had nothing to be nervous about._

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_Nicole looked at her cautiously. “Right,” she said. And Waverly swears to whatever God there is that she almost sounded disappointed._

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_They looked into each other's eyes, only a few feet apart, but neither seemed to be able to make the first move. Well that is until a voice snapped them out of their daze._

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_“Alright Jesus Christ you two stop eye fucking each other and just do the damn dare so we can move on.” There was a teasing lilt in Stephanie’s voice, which caused Waverly to wonder if this wasn't just some spontaneous dare they had thought of after all._

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_“Oh shut up Steph, they're just getting in the mood.” That same lilt was present in Chrissy's voice. This alone caused a slow blush to creep up Waverly’s cheeks. That was the only reason she was blushing of course. She looked back over to Nicole, who was now looking down at her perfectly ripped black jeans with an unreadable expression._

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_Waverly reached over and put a hand on her knee, bringing her back from wherever her mind just went. “Hey, you with me, space cadet? Cause it doesn't look like you were on earth just now.” she teased. Sometimes, even when the air around them felt thick with tension, banter flowed so effortlessly between the two._

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_“Hey!” Nicole huffed in mock offense. “We both know I would be a space ranger. I'm too skilled to be just an average cadet.”_

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_“Oh, you're not ‘just an average’ anything.” The words were out of her mouth before she could even process them, let alone stop them. She saw Nicole blush and look down at the ground shyly, a small smile creeping over her features. Seeing this affect her words had on her gave her a little more confidence. She placed her hand on her left cheek, turning her head to look her in the eyes. Nicole met her gaze and her face softened. “It's only 10 seconds ok? We've got this.” she whispered so that only they could hear._

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_Nicole turned towards her a little more, melting in her embrace. “Ok. Are you ready?” She asked timidly._

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_Waverly nodded her head slightly. She knew better than to try to speak. She knew her words would fail her._

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_That was all the consent Nicole needed to lean forward, bringing her hang up to cup Waverly’s chin. Their lips were centimeters apart, giving Waverly one last chance to back out if she wanted to. But she didn't want to. She reached up with her opposite hand, the other still resting on the red head's cheek, and brought it to the back of the girl's neck._

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_With one last look into her eyes and a glance down to her lips, Waverly closed the gap between the two. Her hand played with the hair at the back of Nicole’s neck. Nicole melted into the kiss, keeping her index finger under her chin while bringing the other hand to stroke through Waverly’s hair. The kiss could have been anywhere from 10 seconds to 10 minutes and they wouldn't have known the difference. Both were so lost in it, but before it could get any deeper there was the sound of a throat clearing next to them,_

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_“Well shit, I definitely think you guys did the dare alright.” The smugness in Stephanie’s voice was completely ignored by the two girls, who pulled away quickly and were now sitting a little farther from each other and avoiding eye contact._

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_There was a deafening silence for a while until finally Waverly spoke up. “Yeah. Yeah totally.” She stuttered. She could feel her heart hammering out of her chest and everybody’s eyes on her. “Actually uh, it's getting pretty late. I should probably be getting home before Wynonna starts blowing up my phone.” Nicole looked up at that, giving her a confused look. She knew damn well the younger girls curfew wasn't for another hour._

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_“I- uh- do you want someone to walk you out?” Nicole asked, not wanting her to leave when things still felt so awkward. She knew something shifted and they needed to talk about it before they missed their chance to._

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_Waverly shifted uncomfortably by the staircase leading to the living room. She needed to get out and clear her head. She also needed to stop thinking about Nicole’s lips on hers… “Nope. No, I'm good. I’ll uh- I’ll see you all later.” With that she walked up the stairs as fast as she could and jogged to her car, not turning back even when she heard the door open behind her and Nicole calling her name._

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_All she could think about in that moment was that she couldn’t keep denying herself any longer. She definitely wasn’t as straight as she thought, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with that quite yet._

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	2. Long night, longer talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole thinks of what could have been  
> Waverly and Nicole talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey ya'll welcome back! A little note I forgot to mention before, this story's going to alternate viewpoints. So basically chapter 1 was Waverly and now chapter 2 is Nicole. Don't worry, I'll try to make it as not confusing as possible I promise! As always I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!

“Jesus Christ… what the fuck did I do…” Nicole muttered to herself in the dark of her room. She knew that kiss was a bad idea but goddammit she couldn't resist it. She thought about it. Thought about telling them it was stupid and that she wasn't going to kiss a girl. But she wanted it. God she wanted it. Any thought of opposing went out the window when she looked over at Waverly. 

She had known she had feelings for Waverly for a few months. They were best friends and Waverly was absolutely gorgeous. Light brown hair that went down to the small of her back, hazel eyes that could shine even in the darkest room, and a petite frame fit from being captain of the cheer team. Everyone knew she had to be great at what she did considering she was captain as only a Junior, which was basically unheard of. Not to mention Nicole had seen her in action. Sometimes she was the test dummy when Waverly wanted to try out a new routine she was putting together for the squad. It’s not like she was going to oppose. 

She had always known she was gay. She had been with a guy once; her freshman year. He was sweet and loyal and all the things a good guy should be. There was no reason for her to not like him. Well except for one, and she wasn’t very surprised when she figured it out. 

The only person who she told was Wynonna. Besides Waverly, she’s Nicole's best friend. She sure as shit wasn’t going to come out to Waverly quite yet. It’s not that she doesn’t trust her, she just doesn’t know how to unpack all that to her. Deep down she knows Waverly would accept her, but the not so deep down part is absolutely terrified of changing the dynamic they have going on. Plus, flirting with no consequences is a pretty good bonus. 

Wynonna never judged her for it, she just said, “no shit, is that supposed to be news? Nicole you give off mad lesbo vibes” and that was that. There was the occasional joke here and there but she had no problem with it. She actually kind of liked it. It made her feel like it was more normal than it seemed in such a small town. Well, she likes it when the jokes come between just the two of them. Wynonna once tried making a joke in front of Waverly and she freaked. She explained to her later that she didn’t want anyone else knowing and possibly figuring it out, and she respected that.

She knew that she could come out to her other friends. She even thought about it a few times but always decided against it. There was no need to, they were almost done with school and she hadn't ever really had a reason to. Sure it was annoying when they would try setting her up with guys, but she didn't mind it that much. She would come out to them if she had a girlfriend obviously, but the time hasn’t ever come. 

There have been times where she even thought maybe her feelings were reciprocated. But she knows better. Waverly’s as straight as they come. Shit she's captain of the cheer team, how much straighter does it get?

That kiss, that _fucking_ kiss. It's a good thing she was sitting because that way too short kiss was enough to make her knees weak. In the 10 seconds that it lasted her brain shut off but was also so wired at the same time. She had never felt anything like it before, it was incredible. She would give anything to experience that feeling again. If only Waverly felt the same.

She just… ran out. She hated it that much. And all Nicole can think about is how this is it. It has to be the end for them. There’s no way Waverly could ever look at her the same. She never should have gone to that fucking party. But she didn’t think anything of it. She just wanted to be able to spend time with Waverly and hang out with her. 

She thought about maybe texting her. Apologizing and saying she understood if they never talked again and that she never wanted to make her do something she didn’t want to. She figured it was probably a bad idea and that she needed to give the other girl some space. Besides, this was obviously an ‘in person’ conversation.

So Nicole just laid there in her bed, staring up at her ceiling at 2 in the morning wondering what could have been and thinking about her best friends lips on hers. Just then she heard her phone buzzing on her bedside table.

She lazily reached over, wondering who would be calling her at 2AM on a Friday night, especially when one of the only people who probably would doesn’t even want to talk to her right now. She swiped right on the call icon without even looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?” Nicole’s groggy voice carried through the phone. It’s not like it was groggy from sleep or anything, it was just rough from lack of use, and maybe a little crying too.

“Haught, I need you to get your ass up, come to the homestead, and don’t ask questions.” Wynonna’s voice was clear as day like she wasn’t even tired. Nicole perked up at the seriousness in her tone and reached down to tug her shoes on.

“What's going on? Is everything ok?” Nicole asked. She was immediately worried but there was one thought that kept rushing through her head. Waverly. Did Wynonna know? Did Waverly tell her? Is she planning on dragging Nicole over there to kill her and hide the body? They definitely have enough land for it…

“I thought I said no questions? Like that was literally one of the first things I said.”

“Technically it was the last thing you said.” Nicole pointed out as she pulled her shirt over her head and grabbed her car keys. She started to walk towards her window, knowing it was the only way she was getting out of her house without her mom finding out. She had done it tons of times before, mostly to go sneak over to the homestead whenever Waverly called her after having a nightmare. Nicole would crack open her window, jump the 3 feet down to the lawn, and put her car in neutral down the driveway in order to avoid making noise and waking up her mom. It worked every time. 

“Ok I didn’t ask now did I? Just shut up and get over here because you’re the only one I know who can help me calm Waverly down from this shit. I have to get up early for work tomorrow and I can’t miss another shift from sleeping in.” Wynonna stated. Her tone was pure annoyance, but Nicole knew her well enough to hear the worry in her voice. 

Nicole exhaled a slow sigh. Not only did that mean this must be a bad one tonight, but it also meant she had to see Waverly tonight and act like everything was normal between them. “I’m already in my car Wynonna I’ll be there in 10. Does Waves know I’m coming?” she asked. The last thing she needed was to be a surprise visit to the girl too.

“Yeah I told her.” Wynonna said, relief flooding her voice. “Although when I mentioned it she looked a little more scared than I expected, so I’ll let you explain that to me in the morning, k?”

Nicole took a deep breath and held it. She >em>really didn’t want to have to tell Wynonna she kissed her little sister, but the last thing she needed right now was to worry about that. She pressed her foot to the pedal a little harder and responded with a “will do, be there soon.” and expected to hear the dial tone. Instead she heard the sound of Wynonna taking a deep breath and pausing, as if she were contemplating saying something.

It only took a few seconds for Wynonna to finally speak up. “And Nicole? Whatever happened. Between you and Waverly. You’ll be fine. So, like, stop stressing. I can feel it from here and it’s really unsettling. So, yeah, whatever.” Nicole tried to fight the smile from her face. Wynonna wasn’t often a sentimental person, nor did she try to comfort Nicole much, but she knew the older Earp cared. 

“Thanks Wy. Go to bed, you don’t need to be getting fired. I’ll take care of our girl.” Nicole almost hesitated in saying “our girl”, but she knew that at the end of the day no matter what, Waverly would always be her girl too. Even if the feeling wasn’t mutual. 

“Don’t have to tell me twice. Doors locked, like always. You know what to do.” and with that she hung up. Nicole knew exactly what to do. They held a spare key under the big mat that said ‘Earp’ in front of the door. Waverly used to joke and say it was “just for her” and that it might as well have her name on it. 

Nicole pulled up to the homestead and put the car in park. She sat there for a minute, staring at the front door and thinking about what to do next. She knew she would probably either be leaving immediately or staying the night, there was no in between. Under normal circumstances she wouldn’t question it. If it was bad enough for Wynonna to not want to go to sleep and leave her alone, it was bad enough for Nicole to sleep over. But it’s not normal circumstances. She kissed Waverly not even 4 hours ago. 

Nicole’s helped deal with Waverly’s nightmares for almost a year, and as time went on they only started getting worse. They're always different, but also have the same themes. Either their father getting shot on their front porch by their older sister Willa, their mom packing her bags and leaving, or Wynonna being the last to finally leave her and her being alone. Those were the only ones she had told her about at least, she had a feeling there might be more.

After turning off the car's engine, Nicole opened the door and began walking up the front porch steps, careful of the creak in the second to last stair. She lifted up the left corner of the mat, grabbing the silver key underneath and sliding it into the lock. She stuck it back under the corner and walked inside, closing and locking the door behind her just in case. She peered around the first floor of the homestead to see if Wynonna decided to wait up, but she was only met with silence. She walked over to the kitchen, filling up a small glass of water to take up to Waverly. After the glass was about half way full, she turned to walk up the flight of stairs that led to Waverly’s room. 

She paused outside, listening to see if maybe Waverly was asleep, but was met with the sound of sniffling on the other end. She raised her fist to lightly knock on the door before slowly opening it.

“Wynonna? I thought you went to-” Waverly started, but trailed off when she saw that the person that just walked in most definitely wasn’t her sister. “Bed…” she finished, looking up from where she was laying in the dimly lit bedroom.

“Hey…” Nicole sighed. “I brought up a cup of water for you, I didn’t know if you would be thirsty or anything.” Nicole walked over to the bed and set down the glass on the bedside table before sitting on the edge of the bed opposite Waverly. She looked down and saw the red puffiness of her eyes, and the sweat on her brow. “Another one?” Nicole asked, even though she obviously knew the answer.

Waverly paused a minute, looking up at the redhead and seeing genuine concern in her eyes, which really helped relax her with the nightmare she just had. “Yeah, but I’m ok now, don’t worry.” she answered. “I appreciate you coming but you didn’t have to. So Wynonna called you?”

Nicole tried to read her facial expressions, but she couldn’t tell how she was feeling. She was trying to figure out if her presence was making the younger girl uncomfortable at all, but it seemed to only be helping her, which made her feel a lot better. “Yeah. She said, and I quote, ‘get your ass up, come to the homestead, and don’t ask questions’, so now I’m here.” she laughed, trying to ease any awkwardness that might have come. To Nicole’s surprise though there wasn’t any. In fact, Waverly even laughed a little too.

“Yeahhh sounds like Wynonna. I’m sorry if she woke you up, it’s pretty late.” 

Nicole immediately started shaking her head. “No, no, not at all. I was just laying in bed. It's completely fine. Besides it’s nothing I haven’t done before.” Nicole gave her a small smile, trying to show her that there wasn’t any kind of sting in her words. Waverly looked up and smiled back. “You know, you could have called me. Nothing’s changed. Not for me at least.” Nicole added. She knew now was probably not the time to talk about what happened, but she also figured she would try to reassure Waverly and see where her head was at.

When Nicole looked at Waverly again, she almost thought she saw something that looked like disappointment on the brunette's face, but it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. “It hasn’t?” Waverly asked, her voice small and distant. She quickly looked back down at her comforter, avoiding any eye contact.

Nicole felt her heart stop. Of course, that’s what it was. Waverly didn’t hate her, she was scared Nicole would hate her. She knew the kiss didn’t mean anything and she was worried Nicole would take it the wrong way or something. It was all making sense to Nicole now, even if it did kind of hurt that it was confirmed that the kiss didn’t mean anything to her. Nicole swallowed that thought down and shook her head. “No, God of course not Waverly. I’m always going to be here no matter what. That’s what friends are for right?” Nicole asked. Just saying the word ‘friends’ felt like spitting acid out of her mouth.

Waverly’s face fell, but she finally looked up at Nicole again and forced a smile. “Right. Friends. Yeah, no totally. I’m glad nothing’s changed.” Waverly said. Although her words didn’t sound genuine to Nicole, but she left it alone. She figured Waverly was probably still a little shaken from her dream and she didn’t want to push her. Not tonight at least.

Nicole smiled back at Waverly, finally asking the question she should have asked when she first got there. “So hey, are you alright? What was the nightmare this time?” she asked as she leaned down and pushed a strand of hair out of Waverly’s face and over her ear. Nicole felt Waverly slightly shiver under her touch. “Are you cold?”.

Waverly sighed and shook her head. “Umm yeah totally, sorry, you know how I get sometimes.” she lied.

Nicole just smiled down at her and nodded. “Yep, of course I do miss ‘four blankets and a bonus blanket.’” she teased, getting up to pull another blanket out of the closet.

“Hey” Waverly stated in offense. “I’ll have you know that’s completely normal here. We live in Canada, not the Bahamas, it’s always freezing.”

Nicole laughed and walked back over to Waverly, draping it over her small frame. “Yeah, except we’ve lived here our whole lives, your body should be adapted to it by now.” she joked.

“Yeah, well, it’s not.” Waverly pouted, pulling the blanket higher up to her chin and giving Nicole her best sad expression. Nicole only smiled, thinking Waverly looked like a little toddler who was just told she didn’t get to hear a bedtime story.

“You’re cute when you do that.” Nicole sighed, not thinking before the words slipped out of her mouth. Flirting with Waverly was just second nature at this point, and she didn’t even think about how it might not be taken very well after tonight.

To Nicole’s surprise, Waverly blushed and pulled the covers farther up her face trying to cover her cheeks, “Flirt.” she heard, muffled under the blanket.

Nicole laughed as she crossed the room again, sitting back in her spot besides Waverly, this time fully getting on the bed and sitting up against the headboard. “Ok, stop dodging now and talk to me.” Nicole said, getting serious and looking over at Waverly.

Waverly sighed and turned over onto her side to look at Nicole fully. “It wasn’t too bad, just a typical nightmare. I’m ok I promise.”

Nicole looked down doubtfully, not buying Waverly’s words for even a second. “Mhmm. yep. Waves. Please?”

Waverly knew she wasn’t getting out of it. She never does. Sometimes when Nicole comes over Waverly lies about her dreams. Sometimes she really does have nightmares about her sister or mom or dad, but sometimes she has them about Nicole. And that’s not something she ever wanted to tell her. But tonight she felt different, and honestly needed the reassurance. 

Waverly sighed again. Sitting up a little more to match Nicole against the headboard. “It was about you.” she confessed.

Nicole stared at her and swallowed hard. “Me?” she questioned

“Yeah.” Waverly nodded. “You, umm. After we… you know… you were the one to leave. I kept calling your name and you wouldn’t turn around. I kept trying to get a hold of you but you would never answer. I ended up going to your house but when your mom answered she said you left. And then she said you left because of me and I-” Waverly choked. She didn’t want to say the words, but she knew there was no way Nicole was going to interrupt her. “You left me too… just like everyone else…” she whispered, trying to hold back her sobs. 

Nicole felt her eyes starting to water but held back. How could Waverly ever think she would leave her? Nicole felt a rush of emotion and didn’t try to hide it. “Hey…” she whispered, bringing up her hand to hold against Waverly’s cheek, causing Waverly to finally look up at her. Nicole used her thumb to wipe the few tears that were beginning to spill down Waverly’s cheek. “That will never, _ever_ , happen. Do you hear me? I will _never_ leave you, Waverly Earp.” Nicole leaned down and rested her forehead against Waverly’s, still brushing her cheek with her thumb. “As long as you want me, I will be by your side.” she whispered.

Waverly pulled her head back slightly, looking into Nicole’s eyes for any sign of a lie, but she knew better. She saw nothing but genuineness, and it made her heart melt and the tears come down harder. Waverly gripped the front of Nicole’s sleep shirt, and rested her head in the crook of her neck. 

Nicole sat there and held her tightly as she sobbed uncontrollably, trying to whisper soft words of affirmation in her ear. Most of it was probably incoherent compared to the sounds of Waverly’s sobs, but she continued anyway. 

After a few minutes, Waverly pulled back. “Sorry.” she sniffled. “I totally just soaked your shirt.”  
Nicole just looked down and gave her a warm smile. “It’s ok, besides it’s not like it’ll stain or anything. Even if it did I wouldn’t care.”

Waverly smiled back, her first real, genuine smile of the night. “Well regardless, I’m sure your shirt sticking to you probably isn’t the most comfortable thing ever to sleep in. Do you want a sweatshirt or something?” Waverly asked, hoping it would make up for ruining her shirt.

Nicole gave a small laugh, “Waves, you’re like 5 foot. All of your clothes would basically be bras on me.”

Waverly feigned offense, “Ok first off, I’m 5’4 thank you very much, and second of all, I have some of your hoodies here.” 

Nicole laughed for a moment and then gasped, she turned her head to look more fully at Waverly. “Oh my God, so _you’re_ the hoodie thief??” Nicole couldn’t believe what she was hearing. All this time she thought she was either going crazy, or that it was like when the washing machine eats your socks, except these were just really really big socks. 

Waverly bit her bottom lip and looked away shyly. “Welllll technically you leave them here and forget about them, I just happen to always forget to bring it up.”

“Oh yeah? For the last year?” Nicole asked with a hint of mischief and disbelief in her tone.

“Mhmm you know how my memory is. It’s full of school and cheerleading. If you forget you leave your own clothes here, how am I supposed to remember?” 

Nicole just shook her head at the younger girl, getting up to go check her dresser for one of her sweatshirts. “Ok, yeah, whatever. I’m taking all of these back just so you know.”

Waverly just hummed in response. “Yeah sure, if you remember.” She watched as Nicole pulled out a charcoal grey hoodie with the P.S.D logo on the front that Nicole had gotten when she signed up for a possible position at the police academy at the beginning of the year. She has dreamt of being a cop and working under Nedley since they were old enough to even know what a sheriff was. “You better leave me the blue one though, it’s my favorite.”

Nicole crawled back into bed after changing into her hoodie, sliding under the covers Waverly had pulled back for her. “We’ll see.” she smirked, earning a slap on the shoulder from Waverly as she curled into Nicole's side. Typically on nights like this they wake up in each other's arms anyway since they just gravitate towards one another. After about the third night they just said screw it and ended up cuddling before they went to sleep anyways since it resulted in them being more comfortable.

Nicole wrapped her arm around Waverly’s shoulders, allowing the brunette to be even closer. “Goodnight Waves.” she whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Waverly just hummed and snuggled in closer, wrapping her arm around Nicole’s middle. Nicole heard a mumbled “g’night” into her chest, and felt Waverly’s breathing even out.

All Nicole could think before she drifted off to sleep was that she was so grateful Waverly wasn’t mad at her, even if they didn’t get to be more than just friends. She would rather take this than nothing at all. All she knew was, Waverly was right. She wouldn’t be taking those hoodies back, but it wouldn’t be because she forgot. Waverly could have all her damn hoodies if it made her happy. Waverly could have whatever the hell she wanted, and Nicole would keep giving to her. Especially if it meant she got to wake up to the knowledge that Waverly liked to wear her hoodies, and she got to walk around all day with the constant smell of Waverly Earp ingrained in the fabric.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you liked this chapter! I tried making it extra fluffy and flirty ;)  
> I definitely didn't expect it to be that long but alas, here we are at 1:30 in the morning lol.  
> As always please let me know what you think with a comment and some kuddos!  
> Also for anyone wanting socials my twitter handle is @castleloveralwa  
> New chapter coming soon don't worry :)  
> Didn't they mention something about a party coming up last chapter..?


	3. Friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go to the football party, but it doesn't go how either of them expected it to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I've been kind of MIA. I'm getting ready to leave for college in a few days and writers block has been kicking my ass. I hope this chapter makes up for the long wait! This is definitely not where I expected this story to go but you know what, sometimes that's a good thing. Also apologies for any errors, it's 5 in the morning and I'm exhausted. So without further notes from me, enjoy!

Waverly woke to the distant smell of coffee from the kitchen, and a soft body underneath her. She thought about just staying in bed and not moving for at least another few hours, maybe even falling back to sleep for a little bit, but knew that she couldn’t. She had a lot that needed to get done today in order to get ready for the big party tonight. She went to slide out from under the arm that was holding her down when she heard a groan.

“Nooooo” Nicole groaned, holding Waverly tighter. “Stay” 

Waverly could hear the pout in Nicole's voice and giggled. She tried to push up again, but realized she wasn’t going to be moving anytime soon, although she definitely wasn’t complaining. “Fine. But we’ve got 5 minutes. I smell coffee downstairs and I don’t want it to be cold. I’m assuming Wynonna just made it before her shift starts.” Waverly said as she snuggled back into Nicole.

Nicole just hummed and smiled. She was too tired and content to complain, especially when Waverly was tucked into her side like this. 

Waverly just sighed as she wrapped her arm around Nicole’s middle again. They laid like that for a few more minutes before she spoke again. “So are you going to the party tonight?”

Nicole perked up at hearing Waverly’s voice after their long silence. “I was thinking about it. Are you?”

Waverly nodded her head, lifting it from Nicole’s chest. “Yeah, I’m kind of required. Captain of the cheer team and all.” Waverly laughed. “If you want we can go together? I was supposed to ride with Chrissy but she ended up getting a ride with Perry.” she said, giving Nicole a knowing look. They both knew Chrissy had a thing with the football player, they were just waiting for her to finally admit it.

“Yeah totally.” Nicole smiled, “I wasn’t really planning on drinking or anything so I don’t mind driving.”

Waverly gave Nicole a grateful smile, “Thank God. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on getting hammered or anything, just a few drinks.”

“Sounds good to me.” Nicole said, moving a little out from under Waverly. “Come on, I’ve kept you for about six minutes now, I don’t need you getting upset with me and making me make you a new pot.” Nicole teased as she sat up.

Waverly groaned a little in protest but got up anyway. They both walked down just in time to see Wynonna grabbing her keys off the table and placing her cup in the sink.

Wynonna turned to the two walking down the stairs and smiled the best she could for it being 9 in the morning. “Sup losers, figured you would sleep in a little later but whatever. There’s coffee and shit, I gotta run.” Wynonna said, turning on her heels and pointing finger guns at the two while clicking her tongue. She closed the front food behind her and the two stood in stunned silence, staring at the door.

“Umm is it just me or was Wynonna a little bit too happy for it being 9 in the morning before an 8 hour shift?” NIcole asked. Her eyes darted to Waverly before she walked towards the cupboard, pulling out two mugs. She began filling each up to about midway, before setting Waverly’s in front of her on the table. They both sat down across from each other, soaking in the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

“Yeah, that was a little odd. Maybe she's just excited for work?” Waverly suggested, although they both knew it would be a cold day in hell before that happened.

Nicole just laughed, “Totally. Yep. Ten bucks says Doc’s coming to visit her some time during the day and they’re going to do it in the storage room.”

Waverly groaned, “Ok ok ew gross, I did not need that visual in my head. She might be your best friend but she’s my sister. I don’t need or want to know her sex life.”

“And you think I do? Yeah she’s my best friend but she’s also _Wynonna_. Believe me, her sex details are the _last_ thing I want to know about.” Nicole shook her head and cringed while taking a sip and finishing off her coffee. She grabbed Waverly’s mug as well and placed them in the sink. “I should probably head out if we’re going to the party tonight. My mom will kill me if she gets home from work and I’m still gone. She knows my “workouts” don’t typically go past 10.” Nicole said while grabbing her keys.

“Yeah probably. But hey, I’ll see you here at 7 right?” Waverly asked hopefully. She didn’t want to come across as too desperate but she was also excited to spend more time with the redhead. If she had it her way, they wouldn’t even be apart.

“Of course.” Nicole said as she walked towards the front door. “See you tonight.” she waved goodbye as she shut the front door. 

Waverly sighed and dropped down onto the couch in the living room. She really had to figure out this feelings bullshit. But what was she supposed to do? Watch lesbian porn and see if she ‘felt something’? That just didn’t feel right, nor did it really match the feelings she felt. Yeah Nicole was beautiful, and she was pretty sure she was sexually attracted to her… ok yeah, she was sexually attracted to her. But it was more than that. She had real, genuine feelings for the redhead. Feelings she had never felt before. And to say that she was terrified was an understatement. 

She knew the feelings were always there, she was just too scared to open that box and let them out. Because once she did they became real and she had to face them. And not only did she have to face them, but she had to figure out a whole new side of herself that she didn’t even know was there. 

Waverly got up and went upstairs towards her bedroom, determined to find the perfect outfit for tonight which may or may not be intended to catch Nicole’s attention.

\----------------------------------

Waverly popped her head out of the closet when she heard the doorbell ring. It was 6:58 and she was still stuck looking for the perfect shoes to go with her outfit. She was wearing a black fitted crop top with blue jean shorts, but she couldn't decide how to finish off the outfit. She grabbed her black wedge heels and ran down the stairs to the front door.

She yanked the door open while running a hand through her hair. She wasn’t nervous, that would be ridiculous. Oh fuck it, she was nervous. At least now she was willing to admit that to herself. Small steps. 

“Hey, Waverly! Wow you look… good.” Nicole said, sighing out the last part. Waverly noticed her eyes trailing her body until they snapped up to meet her eyes. ‘Mission accomplished’, Waverly thought.

“Hey! You don’t look too bad yourself.” Waverly said smoothly. She sounded more confident than she felt, especially with Nicole standing in front of her wearing skinny black jeans with a red flannel shirt over a matching tight black shirt. 

Nicole smirked as she started to feel some boldness at the compliment. “Ready to head out?” she asked, holding her hand out to Waverly.

“Yeah totally, let me just grab my coat” Waverly said, taking Nicole's hand and grabbing her coat from behind the door. She shut the door behind her and they walked down the stairs hand in hand. 

Nicole walked Waverly over to the passenger side and opened the door for her. “After you” Nicole said while dramatically sweeping her arm in front of her body and holding the door open. 

Waverly smiled at her and ducked her head, attempting to hide her blush at Nicole’s actions. “And they say chivalry is dead” she joked as she sat in the seat. 

Nicole shut the door and ran over to the drivers side. “Well, ‘they’ have apparently never met _me_ before. I’m nothing but a gentlewoman.” she teased, eliciting a laugh from the younger girl. 

They rode the 10 minutes to the party in comfortable silence, with nothing but the soft sounds of the radio playing in the background and the sound of their heartbeats heavy in their ears. When they pulled up to the party Nicole got out of the car first, opening the door again for Waverly and offering her hand to help her out. All of this would have seemed very couply to Waverly if this weren’t typical for them already. 

They walked up the short path together, walking past drunk couples in the yard and random teen boys wrestling in the grass. Nicole opened the door for them and they were immediately met with the sounds of blaring pop music and random people making out against the walls of the living room and grinding on the makeshift dance floor.

Nicole leaned in to yell in Waverly’s ear, “Well, _this_ is a party I guess”.

“Yeah, and I’m already ready to leave. Think it’s too early to leave and just have a movie night instead?” Waverly joked, although if she was being completely honest she was only half joking. “I’m gonna go get a drink, do you want anything?”

Nicole shook her head. “No, no I’m good. I drove and I don’t know how long you plan on staying, I don’t want to risk it.”

Waverly just nodded her head and walked towards the kitchen, bumping into a few people she knew along the way and exchanging ‘hellos’. She quickly found Chrissy, who no surprise was all over Perry as he grabbed their drinks from the fridge.

Chrissy noticed Waverly and immediately perked up. “Waves!! Hey! Hi! I didn’t know when you were going to make it!” she squealed as she threw her arms around the shorter brunette. 

Waverly chuckled and returned the embrace, recognizing her friend’s level of drunkenness. “Chrissy, hey! I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume you’ve had a few to drink already.” she joked.

Chrissy threw her head back in laughter, everything appearing ten times funnier than it actually was. “Ehhhh I havent had _that_ much. Hey where's Nicole? Didn't you guys ride together?” Chrissy slurred.

Waverly smiled at the mention of Nicole, even her name made her heart flutter. “Yeah, I just came to get a few drinks, she’s out in the living room probably finding a place for us to sit or-” she was cut off by someone bumping into her, practically trampling her. 

“Oh shit! My bad my bad I didn’t- Waverly! Hey I didn’t know you were gonna be here!” the guy slurred at her. Just hearing his voice sent her stomach into knots, and not the good time.

“Yeah Champ, I’m kinda on the cheer squad. Captain, actually, I kind of have to come.” she sighed. This was definitely not what she wanted to deal with tonight. She just wanted to sit down, knock back a few beers, maybe dance a little bit, and flirt with Nicole a little bit with no consequences. Was that too much to ask?

“Well shit Waves, you look, like, smokin hot. Are you sure you wanted to break up? Cause I could _totally_ hit that right now.” Champ said, pinning Waverly against the counter.

“Knock it off Champ, believe me that's the last thing I want right now.” Waverly said pushing him away, but every time she pushed he just came back against her.

“Oh come on, it would be funnn. God knows you could use some fun. Maybe it'll help loosen you up for once.” Champ replied, reaching out to grab for Waverly’s arm when suddenly his hand was trapped behind his back and he was the one being pushed against the counter. 

“Back away from her and say you’re sorry now you douche bag, and maybe I’ll consider not giving you a severe kick to the nads” Nicole threatened in his ear while simultaneously pushing his arm up higher on his back. Champ groaned in pain but every move he made hurt more. 

“Ok ok jesus! What's the big deal we were just messing around, right Waves? Get your attack dog off me” he snarled.

Waverly just stood there, watching the events unfold until finally she put her hand on Nicole’s arm. “Ok hey, that's enough, im ok” she whispered. Nicole looked her in the eyes for a minute and pulled back, releasing Champ from her hold. 

Champ quickly turned around and rubbed his arm, cringing in pain and looking at the two. “Jeez, and to think I used to think you were hot you crazy, ginger bitch” Champ seethed, looking at Nicole with complete hatred in his eyes.

“Yeah sorry, no thanks, you’re not really my type.” Nicole replied, resisting every urge she had to punch him in the face right there and just end it, but they were already drawing a big enough crowd as it was.

“Whatever. Come on Waverly, last chance. I’ll forgive this little stunt you and your friend just pulled and we can pretend it never happened. Just say you made a mistake last year and you want me back, no hard feelings” Champ pressed.

Waverly rolled her eyes. Was he really _that_ stupid? She didn’t even think it was possible. “Champ, I’m going to say this once, and all I can do is hope that this will get through your thick skull and to your pea sized brain. I’m over you, ok? I’ve moved on, you should too.”

Champ just stood there and looked at her in utter confusion. Surely he heard her wrong. “Moved on? What, like you’re dating someone else? Well who is he? We can fight right here. See who the bigger man is.” he said, trying his best to stand at his full height to intimidate the would-be ex-girlfriend stealer in case they were in the room.

Waverly couldn’t stop the next words that came out of her mouth even if she wanted to, it’s like her brain was on autopilot. “Yeah, well, good luck with that. Because ‘he’ is a ‘she’ and ‘she’ just had you pinned up against this table like it was nothing.” she blurted. She gasped at the admission, she didn’t even know where that came from, it was just the first thing that came to her mind. Is this considered coming out? She doesn't even know what she is yet but did she just come out to basically the whole school in 2 seconds and possibly out Nicole too? Great, she’s gonna hate her.

Nicole just stood there, slack jawed and looking at Waverly in disbelief. But the look on Champs face was honestly kind of worth whatever consequences might happen from this. So turning back to face Champ, Nicole fixed her expression and with as much seriousness as she could muster, just said, “So what’s this about a fight?” and then punched him square in the jaw. 

Champ fell to the floor, knocked out from the force. Everyone around them just stood there, gaping at Waverly’s confession and Nicole’s violence. Waverly just stared at Nicole like she was a foreign language that she couldn’t decipher. She never expected her to actually go with it. She had hoped, but even her hopes didn’t end with Nicole punching Champs lights out. That was actually kinda nice. Waverly didn’t have much time to ponder over what just happened, however, because that's when Nicole grabbed Waverly’s hand and led her straight to the front door. They were definitely gonna have to talk about this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's that for now! I will be back, I promise. I would never leave y'all hanging. Guess we're about to get a fake dating AU? As always please leave kuddos and comments, they make me very happy and give me the jolt I need to keep writing! I hope you all enjoyed all that :)


	4. So we're... girlfriends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole takes Waverly to a special spot and Waverly and Nicole have an important talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's back!! Definitely not as long of a break as the last one haha I promise I'm trying!  
> I just started my first day of college today so I've had a lot more free time on my hands and more productivity, so hopefully I'll be able to upload on more of a "schedule" for you guys!  
> Your love and support of this fic means the world to me, thank you guys so much for following!  
> As always, enjoy your wayhaught, this ones a fun one :)

Nicole held tightly to Waverly’s hand, leading her through the crowd of bystanders and party goers. What the fuck just happened? One minute she was stepping in on Champ being an asshole, and the next Waverly was telling everyone in the room that they were a couple? If you had told Nicole that that was how her night was gonna go, she would have told you you were insane and laughed in your face. 

What did this mean for them? Did Waverly just come out or something? Did Waverly just out Nicole without her even realizing it? There were so many questions that Nicole had, and the good news was she had plenty of time to ask Waverly herself now that they were standing in front of her car. 

Nicole opened Waverly’s door for her, helping her in the seat and then running over to her side. Once she was seated and closed the door she took a deep breath, both of them staring ahead at the dark nothingness of the street in front of them. 

“So…” Nicole started, still refusing to look towards Waverly.. How was one supposed to talk about this? ‘So hey fake girlfriend how are you today? Nice weather we’ve been having right? Oh my God did you see that the Raptors won the other day?’ Honestly, this was harder than she thought it would be, mainly because she didn’t want to make a mistake and assume anything. She wanted Waverly to be the first person to say something. 

“Do you want to go somewhere?” Waverly blurted out, whipping her body around to face Nicole. 

Nicole turned slowly to face Waverly, feeling slightly skeptical and extremely confused about the whole ordeal. “Umm sure Waves, whatever you want.”

Nicole turned back towards the front and turned the key in the ignition, pulling off from the side of the road. She saw Waverly release a deep sigh from her peripherals. She decided on silence for the car ride, but still had no idea where she was supposed to be taking her. “So where exactly do you want to go?” Nicole asked hesitantly.

“Anywhere. Literally anywhere I don’t care. I just need to get out of here and get the feeling of Champ off of me.” Waverly replied curtly.

Nicole wanted to make a smart ass joke, or even ask if the brunette was ok based off her short responses, but she knew that it would probably be better just to drive. She was also still a little pissed. Not at Waverly, but at Champ. She was starting to wish she had done more than just punch him. 

They were driving for about 30 minutes in complete silence until they finally arrived at a forested looking area. Nicole parked her truck by the treeline and got out of the vehicle, causing a confused looking Waverly to leave the car before she could open the door for her. 

“Hey Nicole?” Waverly questioned, “Not that I think you’re gonna murder me or anything, but why are we outside a random forrest in the middle of nowhere?”

Nicole just laughed, deciding she didn’t want to ruin the surprise yet. “Well we’re not gonna stay _outside_ of it. We’re gonna go in it.” she joked confidently. Nicole began walking down a small path that didn’t look like it was meant to be there, but more like someone roughly made it from using it so much.

Nicole could feel Waverly’s eye roll without even looking back at her, but knew she was still following her. After walking deeper into the woods for about 10 minutes, they got to a small clearing with a big boulder by a small lake covered by an overhang of trees.

“Nicole…” Waverly trailed off, “what is this place?”

Nicole smirked while moving to sit on the rock to pull her shoes off. “It’s a lake,” she said obviously.

Waverly had never rolled her eyes so many times in one night. “Yeah no shit. I mean how do you know this place even exists? We’re in the middle of the woods.”

Nicole paused. She knew that telling the truth would just bring the mood down, but she also knew that avoiding any more of Waverly’s questions would start to annoy the brunette, and the whole point of this was to make Waverly feel better and forget about what had happened tonight. 

“I come here sometimes. When I want to be alone or just think,” Nicole stated. 

Waverly was going to respond, but the sight of Nicole taking off her shirt caused all the air to leave her lungs. 

“Wait, are we going _in_ the lake??” Waverly asked incredulously.

“Well, yeah,” Nicole chortled. 

“Oh.” Waverly breathed, watching Nicole shug off her jeans. 

Nicole started to feel a little self conscious of her decision. She was just hoping to distract Waverly, but thinking back maybe this wasn’t the best idea. “We don’t have to,” Nicole rushed out, “It’s just you said you wanted to get the feeling of that douche bag off of you and that made me thinking of washing yourself clean which led me to think of water which brought me here but it’s ok we can totally just-”

“No no, it’s fine” Waverly cut off her rambling. “I just wasn’t sure what was happening for a minute. Give me a sec.”

Waverly quickly pulled off her shirt and shorts, she had already taken her shoes off in the car.

Nicole couldn’t tell if she was regretting her idea of swimming or thankful for it, all she did know is that nothing in the world could make her take her eyes off Waverly.  


Waverly cleared her throat, smirking when she saw Nicole snap her head up to look her in the eyes. Well, maybe that could stop her. 

“So are we getting in? Or are we just going to gawk at each other's bodies all day? I’m fine with either, but I figured swimming was the point here.” Waverly flirted boldly. She figured Nicole was staring at her, so why not have a little fun with it?

Nicole quickly scrambled to set her clothes on the rock. “Right, yeah, totally. Swimming. Mhmm.” Nicole knew she had been busted and wanted to change the subject as soon as possible. “Careful, the water's a little cold,” she warned, stepping into the water and walking about chest deep. She sighed at the feeling of the water enveloping her body and tilted her head back.

“Please, I’m sure it’s not that bad, you got in just fine don’t be a pussy” Waverly scoffed. Waverly sat on the grass by the water and swung her legs over the ledge, pushing herself off and jumping the few feet into the lake instead of slowly submerging herself. 

Waverly shrieked, discovering that Nicole’s warnings were a lot more accurate than she thought and that the water was freezing. “ _Shit!_ ” She hissed, jumping into Nicole practically tackling the taller girl in the process. 

Nicole let out a deep bubbly laugh while catching the brunette in her arms and turning her the best she could to face her. Waverly's chest was still heaving up and down from breathing so hard, and she looked right into Nicole’s eyes. 

“I _tried_ to warn you, did I not?” the redhead fake scolded. Her breathing had picked up a little too, but it wasn’t from the coldness of the water. No, this was from the close proximity to the shorter girl and them being skin to skin in the water. 

Waverly finally noticed their proximity and gasped and the soft feeling of Nicole’s skin against her own and her strong arms holding her around the waist. “Yeah… yeah i guess you did,” Waverly whispered, looking up to meet Nicole’s eyes. 

Nicole looked down into Waverly’s hazel eyes, emitting nothing but love and affection for the redhead. She could feel her and Waverlys mouths getting closer to one another and saw the other girls eyes flutter close. She wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but she also knew that they had a lot to talk about. 

She pulled her head back slightly, the movement causing Waverly to open her eyes and move backwards a little, disentangling her body from Nicole’s. Waverly cleared her throat and looked around the clearing, hoping that she hadn’t just made things awkward. Maybe she was just reading the signs wrong the whole time. 

“So,” Nicole started, clearing her throat as well, “girlfriend huh?”

Waverly blushed, looking down into the water and moving her arms side to side, causing ripples that looked _super_ interesting right about now. “Yeah…” she trailed off. She finally looked up to meet brown eyes. They weren’t accusatory or judgy or even awkward, just filled with curiosity. “Nicole, I am _so_ sorry. I don’t even know where that came from. One minute Champ was pushing me against the counter and trying to get me to take him back, the next you pulled him off of me and I knew I needed an excuse to get him off my back and maybe even knock him down a peg and it just slipped out! Honestly I don’t even know why I said your name. It could be because of how close we are, it could be because you were there, hell, it could have probably been anyone if they had saved me from him instead” Waverly rambled. 

Nicole nodded, paying as much attention to Waverly as she could, even considering her disappointment at her words. ‘It could have been anyone’. Of course. Because why would Nicole be special? Why would she even let herself believe that there was a chance for them? Even a small possibility? 

“I see” she responded, trying to mask the sadness in her voice. 

Waverly paused, trying to think of what to say now. There was some kind of awkward tension between them now, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Nicole felt awkward with the idea of being with another girl. 

“Really, I’m so sorry. I can fix it on Monday. I’ll tell everyone that I made it all up and that you’re straight and you were just covering for me so I didn’t look like an idiot. I promise I’ll clear your name.” 

“Alright Waves, slow down.” Nicole eased. “One, Don’t do that. Like that’s actually social suicide and I would never ask you to do that.Two, you’ll tell everyone I’m straight? Why not tell them we both are? Why just me? And three, you don’t have to ‘clear my name’, it’s not like i got convicted of murder, dating you isn’t a bad thing.” 

Waverly took a deep breath. That was a lot in one sitting, but there was one part of it that she paid a lot more attention to to the rest, and was actually something she had hoped Nicole hadn’t heard. ‘Now or never I guess’, she thought.

“Thank you, that means a lot,” she started. “And yeah, umm… I mean I didn’t want to assume you liked girls or anything ya know? And I mean there’s no reason for me to correct it. Guess it’s easier for them to find out about me this way instead of later I guess. No point denying it now just for it to come out later.” Waverly rambled, but she caught herself on her wording. “Fuck, no pun intended.”

Nicole let out a breath she didn’t even realize she had been holding. Waverlys… gay? But she knows she’s had boyfriends in the past. But then again, that doesn’t mean anything, Nicole’s had one before too. 

“Wait hold on…” she said instead. “Are you… gay?”

Waverly felt herself shrink under Nicole’s gaze. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt like Nicole was looking at her differently, and that thought scared the hell out of her. But she was also tired of denying who she was. 

“Actually, I’m bisexual” she stated, waiting for Nicole to get uncomfortable and leave. 

Nicole stood there, shocked by this new update, but also incredibly happy. Maybe she did have a chance after all. But she also didn’t want to get her hopes up. “Wow” was all she could get to come out. 

Waverly crossed her arms over her chest and held her shoulders self consciously. “Are you… are you ok with that? You’re not mad or anything right?” She mumbled.

Nicole could help but laugh so hard until she was doubled over cackling. Waverly thought she was _mad_?? Did she think she had a problem with ‘the gays’? That thought just made her laugh harder until soon she was gasping for air. When she finally composed herself she looked up and saw Waverly staring blankly at her with an unreadable expression painted on her face. Nicole immediately felt like she had been punched in the gut. Here Waverly was, coming out to her, putting her heart on the line for her, and here she was, laughing without Waverly even understanding why. She figured it was only fair she finally told the girl her secret. 

“Waverly, i am so so _so_ sorry for laughing but oh my God you don’t understand.” Nicole couldn’t help but the small chuckle that escaped before she continued. “I am soooo gay. Like, _so_ fucking gay Waves.” She also couldn’t help the smile that lit her face at her confession. It felt so good saying it out loud, and it felt even better that she was telling it to Waverly. 

Waverly snapped her head up and looked at Nicole, eyes wide and absolutely shocked. Of course she had hoped, and honestly if she had told her any other time than now she wouldn’t have even blinked. But after the events of the last 5 minutes, it felt like she was on a rollercoaster. 

“Oh…” Waverly trailed off. “Well, shit” she finished. She didn’t exactly know what to do at this point. 

“Yeah” Nicole laughed, “girls are pretty hot.”

Waverly smiled and they both started laughing this time. Both of them feeling free and for once truly feeling like themselves around the other. “Definitely. Super hot” she said, letting her eyes shamelessly drop down the redheads body and back up to her face. Nicole knew she was obviously just jokingly checking her out, but it still caused her to blush and sent butterflies straight to her stomach. 

“So… what now?” Nicole asked, revisiting the topic they truly needed to talk about. 

“Honestly? I don’t really know” Waverly sighed. 

“I mean, I’m ok with keeping up with it. It would look suspicious for you if we went back to school Monday and all of a sudden we were broken up.” She supplied. Seeing the look on Waverly's face, however, made her rethink her suggestion. “That is if you’re ok with it of course! This is your thing, I just want you to know I’m happy to help however I can.” 

Waverly's expression changed from apprehensive to grateful. She didn’t know how pretending to date her crush was exactly going to work out, but at the same time it sent a thrill down her spine and a rush through her chest she had never felt before, and she loved every second of it. 

“You know what, I think I would be down for that, _girlfriend_.” She smirked, emphasizing the last word. Nicole just smirked at her in return, both mutually agreeing their time in the lake was ending. They both lifted themselves out and grabbed their clothes, putting them on their soaked bodies and dampening the fabric in the process. 

“So _girlfriend_ , ready for me to get you home?” Nicole smirked at the new term of endearment she could use with Waverly, all while walking her through the trees and back to her truck. 

“I sure am.” Waverly smiled, taking Nicole’s hand in hers and walking the whole way back to the truck with their fingers intertwined.

Nicole couldn’t help the smile that lit her entire face at the contact. The action felt so simple and so natural to her. Even if it wasn’t real, she could definitely see herself enjoying this charade for a while. She just hoped it didn’t come back to hurt her later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's that! I honestly didn't really envision them coming out to each other, I kind of always had the plan for it to just happen with them kissing or whatever but I kind of like this more? I dont know? Haha anyways, I really hope you guys liked this chapter!  
> Please leave some Kuddos and Comments, they make my heart happy and give me the motivation to write more for you guys and a lot faster :)  
> Also! If you guys wanna come follow me on Twitter I would love to talk to yall!  
> @sydthekid41319


	5. Pretending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly and Nicole navigate their first day back at school since their "relationship" went public.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to update this story. I honestly lost my motivation for it and didn't know what direction I wanted this story to go, but don't worry, it's back now! I have my next few chapters plotted out and have a good ending planned! Thank you to all who commented on this story, you guys are the reason I didn't give up on it <3  
> Also a big thank you to my amazing beta @Haught_Pursuit, you have been incredibly helpful to me and I appreciate the hell out of you!  
> As always, I hope you enjoy your WayHaught :)

Waverly woke up Monday morning with more nerves than she had ever felt before. It was the first day back at school since the party, which meant it was her first day being out to the whole school. Word travels fast, so she knew everyone had heard the new development by now. Chrissy even sent her a text later that night congratulating her and letting her know she was proud of her and that she supported her no matter what. 

She talked with Nicole a lot over the weekend about how they wanted to do this. How much PDA they were comfortable with, how they got together, how long they had been dating, and anything else they thought would be necessary. Waverly was a planner after all. 

Nicole picked Waverly up that morning so they could carpool together. When Waverly got in the car she immediately reached over for Nicole’s hand. Nicole didn’t complain, they had agreed that they would probably be holding hands a lot whenever they could, so they were just used to it by now. 

“Hey baby,” Nicole crooned. Pet names were also a part of the plan. Sometimes Waverly worried that she was probably enjoying this too much, but she couldn’t find it in her to care. As long as Nicole was comfortable and on board with this, she was all in. 

“Hi sweetie pie,” Waverly blushed. “Are you ready for today? First official day as a couple. It’s not too late to back out if you’ve changed your mind.”

Nicole squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Waverly, I’m in this. I’m not just going to leave you out to dry like that. Where you go, I go, ok?” 

Waverly smiled, squeezing the hand back. “Thank you, Nicole, really. You’ll never know how much this means to me.”

“Anytime Waves. I would do anything for you, this is literally nothing.”

If Waverly had a counter for the amount of times she had blushed on the way to school, it would easily be in the triple digits by now. 

They pulled up to the juniors parking spot and got the closest one available. They got out of the car and Nicole reached for Waverly’s hand, giving her a small smile. “Ready?” she asked.

Waverly smiled and tugged her forward towards the building, “Always."

Nicole was insistent on walking Waverly to her locker. Things felt different but also oddly the same. Nicole always met Waverly at her locker anyway, but never walked her to it. But they also never really rode to school together since Waverly got her Jeep. Even then most of the time Waverly rode with Wynonna, so that could explain why. Although it wasn't that big of a difference from the norm, it still made Waverly’s heart flutter.

Well that and the fact that a lot more people seemed to be looking at them than normal. And whispering. They had expected something like this, but Waverly was kind of surprised this many people seemed to care.

They both stopped in front of Waverly’s locker and she set her backpack down, moving to put her combination in and open the door. She turned to Nicole as she put some of her books on the shelves of her organizer. 

“Is it just me, or are a lot more people talking about us than we thought?”

Nicole looked around and shrugged, leaning against the neighboring locker. “I don’t know, I mean come on Waves it’s high school gossip. Of course everyone’s gonna be talking about it the first few days. It’ll die down eventually, don't worry.”

Waverly opened her mouth to say something when Stephanie and Chrissy ran up to the two. 

“Ok, so, like, give me the details” Stephanie rushed, casting a side glance at Nicole but staring straight at Waverly.

“Well good morning to you too,” Nicole mumbled under her breath.

Stephanie huffed before rolling her eyes and focusing back on Waverly, who looked slightly confused.

“What she _meant_ to say,” Chrissy interrupted, “was, ‘hi Waverly, hi Nicole, good morning. How are you? How and when did you guys exactly start dating, and why did we not know?'” Chrissy finished with an overly high impression.

Nicole laughed but tried covering it with an unbelievable cough while Waverly blushed and looked down at the ground. Chrissy tried shooting an apologetic look to her friend but it couldn’t be seen past Stephanie’s exasperated flail of her arms. 

“Okay, hold on,” Nicole said, stepping between Waverly and the two girls. She could feel Waverly relax from behind her. “One question at a time please,” she said calmly.

Chrissy spoke before Stephanie had the chance, “When exactly did you guys get together? You were _literally_ just kissing in front of us the other day for a dare and now all of a sudden you’re dating?” she asked skeptically.

Nicole shrugged a shoulder, taking a moment to glance back at a sheepish looking Waverly. She gave Waverly a small smile before turning towards the girls and continuing. “I’ll admit we were a _little_ shaken up after that,” she laughed.

“ _Buttt_ ” Waverly interrupted, stepping to the side of Nicole and grabbing her hand. Nicole looked down at her and smiled, squeezing the smaller girl's hand and looking back at Stephanie and Chrissy. “That was only because we were scared to acknowledge our feelings for each other. She came over to my house that night and we talked about what happened,” she explained. _Technically_ none of that was a lie. Just the implication was. 

“And now we’re together,” Nicole finished before leaning over and placing a kiss on Waverly’s temple. 

Chrissy cooed and Stephanie just looked more annoyed, obviously not completely satisfied with that answer. “Ok, but did you guys do it?” Stephanie probed. 

Waverly sputtered and Nicole choked on air. They didn’t really discuss what they would say to a question like _that_. They didn’t really expect someone to ask something that personal. Of course it would be Stephanie to prove them wrong. 

“I- uh-” Waverly stuttered. Nicole just looked at her in sympathy, she didn’t want to open her mouth and say something that would make things worse, but she also didn’t want to leave the younger girl helpless. Luckily things didn’t have a chance to get more awkward before Chrissy came to the rescue. 

“Come on, Steph, that one might not be our business right now,” Chrissy defended, shooting Waverly a wink. She gave Chrissy a thankful smile, turning around to grab the books she needed and closed her locker. She made sure to keep her hand in Nicole’s. “Well guys, as fun as this interrogation has been, we really have to get to class. Come on, babe,” she said, pulling Nicole to follow her down the hall. 

“We’re happy for you guys!” Chrissy shouted down the hall at the couple. Nicole whipped her head around enough to give the blonde a smile before walking in stride with Waverly. She could hear her exhale and see her body visibly relax now that they were out of that situation. 

Without thinking, Nicole quickly tugged on Waverly’s hand and led her over to a small secluded math hallway. “Hey,” she whispered, tucking a stray piece of hair behind Waverly’s ear. “Are you alright?” 

Waverly sighed and slumped forward into Nicole’s body. Nicole wrapped her arms around the smaller girls shoulders and pulled her closer. “This is already more stressful than I thought it would be. What if we can’t keep it up and people find out that I just blurted out a lie?”

“They won’t,” Nicole said with conviction. 

“How do you know?” Waverly asked, looking up at the redhead.

Nicole smiled down at her, reaching down to grab both of Waverly’s hands in her own. “Because, have you seen us? We already did half the stuff we do now. I’ve always walked you to class, we hold hands all the time, we talk to each other 24/7… shall I go on?”

Waverly beamed up at Nicole, squeezing her hands and pulling them away from the wall. “You’re right. Now come on, let's get to class before we’re late and people think we were making out in the bathroom.”

Nicole smirked as she was dragged to her class by the brunette. “Would that really be that bad?” she joked, earning the most beautiful laugh she had ever heard come from the girl in front of her. Yep, this whole fake dating thing was going to be amazing. 

\----------

The rest of their classes went smoothly throughout the day. Waverly and Nicole took turns walking the other to their class until lunch hit. Their whole group shared lunch together, so Waverly knew it would be an interesting 30 minutes. 

By the time they both got to their table, Chrissy, Stephanie, Beth, Jeremy, and Robin were already seated in their spots. Waverly quickly reached over and intertwined her fingers with Nicole’s, shooting her a wink before taking her seat with their friends. Nicole’s seat was obviously already next to hers anyways. 

Just then Wynonna came up with Mercedes, Rosita, and Dolls, pulling up their usual chairs that they add to the table while everyone squeezed to make enough room. Waverly loved it like this. Lunch was the only time she was able to see all of her closest friends together, even if sometimes there were small little squabbles between some of them. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

Waverly continued to hold Nicole’s hand on top on the table, stroking her thumb over Nicole’s every now and then. Everyone was finally sitting and beginning to make small talk when Waverly heard some of the football guys from the middle of the cafeteria. 

“It’s not worth it,” she heard Perry try to call, but it was too late. She watched as Champ and the York boys walked over to their corner, setting their eyes intently on one person. One tall redhead. She watched as Nicole turned and made eye contact with Champ, obviously clear on standing her ground and defending Waverly if the opportunity arose. She felt Nicole’s hand get a little tighter on her own, and even watched Wynonna straighten a little to the other side of her. 

“Champ.” she heard Nicole address, but her tone was flat and threatening. 

“Dyke.” he responded, smirking when Kyle snickered beside him and clapped him on the shoulder for his insult. 

She heard Wynonna slam her palms on the table and she whipped her head towards her, seeing Wynonna start to stand. Waverly quickly put a hand on her sister's arm, pausing her immediately. “Don’t, Wy,” she whispered. Wynonna just gave her a look but backed down regardless. 

“What do you want?” Nicole asked, irritation clear in her voice. 

“Just wanted to check out my competition. Not much to see though from the looks of it,” Champ bit back arrogantly. 

Waverly snickered at that, she couldn’t help it, Nicole was practically the perfect person. And Champ was, well, Champ. Champ whipped his head in Waverly’s direction and she quickly went silent. He had a hurt puppy dog look on his face mixed with confusion. Of course he didn’t get it. 

“What’s so funny?” he asked in annoyance. 

Waverly smirked, thinking of a good thing to say to get him to leave them alone. “Oh I don’t know, maybe that you thought there was a competition to begin with?”

She heard Chrissy hold back her laughter from behind her, and Mercedes give out a low whistle at the burn. Nicole squeezed her leg and smiled at her and Waverly felt a sense of pride swell in her chest. She had never been good at being rude to people, hell, she was voted the nicest person in Purgatory, but Champ just made it _so_ easy sometimes. 

Champ seemed to lighten up at that, however, and looked back and forth between Kyle and Pete. “Did you hear that boys? There was never even a competition. She’s been mine this whole time!” he exclaimed, and the boys whooped and hollered with him. 

“Holy fuck…” she heard Rosita sigh from somewhere near Wynonna. Waverly could practically feel the irritation of the table and instantly felt bad for putting them in the middle of this. 

“Alright, look,” Nicole started irritably, “what do we have to do for you to just leave us alone so we can enjoy our lunch? I’ve already punched you, need me to do it again?”

God, there was something about Nicole and authority that really did it for Waverly. If they were alone right now she couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t jump her right then and there and give her crush away. 

Champ laughed, and Waverly felt her blood run cold at it. That couldn’t be good, right? “You really think this is gonna last? I doubt you guys are even together, she probably just said that shit to make me jealous. There’s no way Waverly likes chicks, let alone you. And as for that punch, how about we go outside and we’ll see how you do with me and my boys?”

“If you think Haughtshot’s going alone you’re a bigger moron than I thought, Chump, and that’s sayin’ something.” Wynonna spoke roughly. 

“I can handle my own battles Wynonna,” Nicole protested quietly, causing Wynonna to back off a little. “Look if you think-”

“No one’s fighting anyone again, okay?” Waverly interrupted, ready to just put this whole thing to rest and go on with her day. “I like Nicole, deal with it. You and I are done, Nicole and I are dating now. I like girls and guys, cause that’s a thing that can happen.”

Champ seemed to ponder that for a second, before a slow smirk spread on his face. “Prove it.”

Waverly falters, feeling Nicole stiffen beside her. Shit. “Prove what?” she asks instead.

“Prove it. Prove that you guys are a thing. Kiss. Right here. In front of the whole cafeteria,” he grins, folding his arms at his chest and rocking back and forth on his heels. 

Waverly was about to say something before Nicole rolled her eyes, leaning over to place a kiss on Waverly’s cheek. “There, happy?” Nicole asks. 

Champ just scoffs, glaring at Nicole and losing whatever patience he had. “Oh come on. Really? A kiss on the cheek? I could literally do that with anyone on the cheer squad, doesn’t mean we’re dating. Just admit it, this is fake.” 

Waverly was done, this was ridiculous. This time it was Nicole who was about to speak, but was interrupted by Waverly fisting the front of her shirt and pulling lips to hers. 

Nicole gasped in surprise, eyes widening for a split second before reciprocating the kiss. She brought one hand to Waverly’s waist while the other found her neck. Waverly kept one hand gripping Nicole’s shirt, while the other found itself in short tresses. 

Waverly went to deepen the kiss, trying to keep up a show but also simply just couldn’t resist it. She had been wanting this for so long, and it was getting harder and harder not to give in to her desires for the redhead at this point. 

Nicole happily responded by greeting her tongue with hers, completely forgetting about the whole room watching them. It wasn’t until she heard a loud whistle come from across the cafeteria that she remembered where she was and what was going on. They both pulled away, leaning their foreheads against one anothers and panting heavily. 

Champ grunted, turning around without another word and the Yorks followed him, clearly going through what could only be described as gay shellshock. 

“Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away,” Waverly whispered when she noticed most of the room went back to normal. The volume was starting to increase almost like nothing had happened. Their foreheads were still pressed together and Nicole’s hand was still on Waverly’s hip. She squeezed it softly before pulling back a little bit to look at her, and also put a little bit of distance between them in the very public place. 

“It’s ok, I did too,” she laughed breathily. 

“Okay you two, I didn’t pay for food and a show,” Rosita joked from across the table.

“I did,” Mercedes chimed in, going back to eating whatever food of the day was on her plate and winking at Nicole. 

“Jesus, if I had known I was gonna have to watch Haught and my sister participate in soft porn today I would have just called in sick,” Wynonna gagged while picking at her food. 

Waverly blushed, looking down at her tray and wanting desperately for the bell to ring. All of a sudden, she wasn’t all that hungry anymore. That kiss brought a lot more out of her than she thought it would, and all she could think about was how bad she wanted to pull Nicole into the closest bathroom and do it again. And again. And again-

“Wynonna,” Dolls chastised. Wynonna stuck her tongue out at him, flinging a random pea off of her fork in his direction. He swatted it away like it was nothing.

“I, for one, am glad Waverly and Nicole are happy together,” Jeremy spoke up before taking a sip of his water. 

Robin was the next to chime in, “Me too! Hey maybe we can have, like, a big gay dinner or something?”

Jeremy instantly gasped from beside his boyfriend, “Oh my God Please??”

Waverly laughed and shook her head, finally enjoying the light direction the conversation was moving to. “Sure Jeremy, we’ll figure it out later.”

“ _Yesss_ ,” he cheered, bringing his fist up in celebration. Waverly felt Nicole chuckle from beside her, finally seeming to come back to normal after her interaction with Champ. 

“Hey, you guys aren’t the only ones who are in a relationship, what about me?” Chrissy asked jokingly.

Waverly gasped, her attention immediately turning to Chrissy across the table. “Wait, shut up! You and Perry are official??”

Chrissy sighed longingly, placing her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm while looking across the room at the football player. “Yep. He finally asked me out after the party. Said he had been wanting to for a while now but was too scared. We’re going to the movies this Friday,” she smiled.

“Chris!” Waverly squealed, practically gushing with excitement. “I’m so happy for you!!”

“I know right! Like finally!” Chrissy squealed back. Everyone at the table just looked on, watching the exchange between the two. 

Chrissy gasped, obviously coming up with a brilliant idea. “Wait, why don’t we make it a double date? Me and Perry, you and Nicole?” 

Waverly looked over at Nicole questioningly, clearly leaving the final decision to her. Nicole just smiled and shrugged, seemingly ok with anything. Waverly beamed back at Chrissy, “That sounds like fun! What time?”

“Seven, and we can get ready together beforehand if you want.”

“Yes!” Waverly exclaimed, her face lighting up at the idea. 

Just as Jeremy was about to speak the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. They all got up from the table and Nicole grabbed Waverly’s tray, stacking it on her own and putting it away for her. Wynonna looked towards Waverly and gagged, causing Nicole to roll her eyes. 

“Please tell me you two aren’t going to be this annoyingly romantic from now on? Because the last thing I want is my best friend ogling my baby sister every time we hang out. Well, more than you already did,” Wynonna amends.

Nicole blushed, acutely aware that that was something Waverly probably didn’t need to know. She looked over to Waverly who was sporting a blush of her own and wringing her hands together as they walked. 

“We’re not- Wynonna, nothing’s going to change,” Nicole supplied, continuously looking over at Waverly who had a far away look in her eye. Nicole wanted nothing more than to know what she was thinking right now. Was she weirded out with what Wynonna just said? Was she regretting all of this? She was the one that kissed her in front of the school, not the other way around. Nicole started to get in her head about the whole thing. 

As if Waverly could read her thoughts, she reached over for Nicole’s hand and squeezed. They smiled at each other, all of the worry leaving Nicole’s mind. 

“Ew, gross,” Wynonna cringed, walking away from the two and towards her own classroom to escape the situation.

“Soooo,” Nicole dragged out, stopping in front of Waverly’s classroom to drop her off. 

“Soooo,” Waverly repeated with a coy smile. 

“A date huh?” Nicole smirked.

“Oh come on, it sounds fun!” Waverly whined before quickly straightening up, realization hitting her face. “Oh shit, wait, unless you don’t want to? I’m so so sorry I didn’t even think-”

“Hey, hey, hey slow down,” Nicole said tenderly. “It does sound fun,” she smiled.

Waverly breathed a sigh of relief, instantly calming under the redheads teasing gaze. “You’re insufferable,” she joked,

Nicole laughed, walking backwards down the hall to her own class so she could still face Waverly. “But you love me,” she yelled the further she got down the hall.

Waverly just shook her head at her and bit her lip, watching as Nicole laughed and turned around to go into her classroom. 

“Yeah,” Waverly whispered to herself, staring at the doorway that Nicole had just entered, “I really do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As you can see, the chapters are gonna start to get a little longer, my writing style has changed a bit so I'm hoping it's for the better ;)  
> Please leave comments and kudos, they feed me the fuel I need to continue :)  
> Wanna talk or yell at me? Here's my Twitter!  
> @sydthekid41319


	6. Movies and Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly and Nicole go on their double date and some secrets come out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Get ready for a bunch of uploading! I'm officially on break and I have the rest of this story planned out, so it should be over soon.   
> Big thank you to my amazing beta @Haught_Pursuit, I really appreciate your support and help with my stories <3   
> I have some exciting notes at the end for you all!  
> As always, enjoy your Wayhaught :)

Nicole waited patiently in her car at 6:27, three minutes before she was supposed to be at the homestead to pick up Waverly for the movie at seven. Waverly had said something about coming back from Chrissy’s around six after they got ready together, and that she should be ready by 6:30. Something about not bringing the right jacket to Chrissy’s so she had to go back to grab it. Nicole kind of found it ridiculous, that girl could make anything look good together. 

Nicole sat in the driver's seat scrolling through random social media sites to pass the time when she heard the front door slam shut. She whipped her head up to see Waverly bounding down the stairs towards her car. Nicole had to hold in her gasp, Waverly looked beautiful. She had her hair braided and she wore a maroon crop top with short blue jean shorts, and a simple jean jacket to pull the outfit together. To say Nicole was trying hard not to drool would be an understatement. 

Waverly pulled open the car door and hopped into the passenger seat, shooting a smile at the redhead who was sporting her normal flannel and ripped jeans look. Waverly would never complain, the look perfectly suited Nicole. 

“Hey,” Nicole smiled, throwing the car in reverse and looking through her back window to get to the road. 

“Hey yourself,” Waverly replied as Nicole put the car in drive and drove in the direction of the movie theater. 

Nicole cast a side glance at Waverly. “So what movie did they con us into seeing?” she teased. 

Waverly scoffed, but she knew Nicole well enough to know she was just joking around. “They didn’t con us into seeing anything. And the theater’s showing _‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,’_ tonight only, so we’re going to see that.”

Nicole laughed, “What the hell is that? That is easily the straightest movie title I’ve ever heard.”

“How do you know the main character’s not a guy?” Waverly challenged.

“Are they?” Nicole shot back.

Waverly pursed her lips and didn’t respond, trying to fight a grin. 

“That’s what I thought,” Nicole laughed.

“Okay, but we’re going to a movie with a very straight couple, what did you expect?”

“I’m not complaining,” Nicole amended quickly, “I’m just saying chances of me actually paying attention are slim to none. Maybe we should just make out in the back,” she joked. 

Waverly laughed, secretly trying to hide anything that could make it look like that’s something she actually really wanted. Because she definitely wouldn’t mind if that happened at all. “Totally, I’m sure Chrissy and Perry would love that.” she said instead. 

“Oh come on, like they won’t be doing that the whole time anyways.” Nicole responded. She was honestly surprised she even got away with that joke. She was worried that might have been too far, but their flirting had hit new levels this week. She figured it was just them trying to make this fake dating thing look more realistic. At this point, she was honestly just about to ask Waverly to make this a real thing and see how she took it. If worst came to worst she could just say it was a joke, right?

Waverly groaned, dropping her head onto the head rest and closing her eyes. “Shit, I didn’t even think about that. We’re going to have to sit there for an hour and a half listening to them sticking their tongues down each other's throats.”

Nicole squeaked from shock, she didn’t expect Waverly to get that graphic with it. “Jesus Christ Waves, I didn’t need the visual.”

“Yeah, well you’re going to be seeing it with your own eyes in a few minutes so deal with it.”

Nicole chuckled, pulling into the parking lot and picking one of the closest spots she could find. After putting the car in park she reached over and put her hand on Waverly’s knee, halting her attempt to get out of the car. 

“What’s up?” Waverly questioned, looking up at Nicole with a curious gaze. 

“I just want to make sure that I don’t over step anything when we get in there. If I do or say anything that isn’t okay I want you to let me know, alright?”

Waverly just got more confused the longer Nicole went on. Was Nicole joking about the whole making out in the back of the theater thing? Because now she wasn’t so sure. “I will Nicole, trust me, but why exactly are you letting me know this all of a sudden?”

Nicole shrugged, turning her body to get out of the car and walk over to open Waverly’s door for her. “I just want to cover all my bases. We haven’t had to really act like a couple yet in such an intimate setting, and I don’t really know how we’re supposed to act,” she admitted.

Waverly gave her a soft smile, reaching out to grab Nicole’s hand and started heading towards the ticket counter. “That’s really sweet, but I think as long as we just go with the flow of things we should be okay.”

Nicole nodded, her body visibly relaxing at the reassurance.

As they waited in line for tickets, Waverly texted Chrissy to confirm that they were waiting for them inside. When they finally got to the booth they looked up at the familiar face behind the glass. 

“Oh, hey Dolls!” Waverly smiled.

“Hey Waverly,” the older boy replied, “Nicole,” he nodded in the direction of the redhead. 

“Hey,” she smiled back. She had never really spoken to Dolls very much, but she knew he was really good friends with Wynonna and looked at Waverly like a little sister. 

“What are you here for?” he asked.

“We’re on a date,” Waverly rushed quickly, trying to keep her cool under the sudden pressure. 

“Yeah, just two girls, on a date. Cause we’re dating.” Nicole supplied, trying to be helpful. They both grinned widely at the boy, who just looked back at them unimpressed. 

“That’s great, but uh, I meant what movie are you here for,” he clarified.

Nicole’s eyes widened at the awkward situation they just got themselves into, and Waverly blushed and looked down, clearing her throat and avoiding eye contact. Nicole laughed it off, trying to relieve some of the tension in her shoulders. “Right, haha, of course! Umm, we’re here to see-”

“The same movie Chrissy and Perry just bought tickets for?” he answered for her.

Waverly snapped her head up to look at Dolls, who was grinning like an idiot. “If you knew what movie, why did you ask?”

Dolls laughed, pulling out the tickets and sliding them through the hole in the glass to the couple. “I liked the idea of watching you two struggle, but that was a lot better than I thought it would be.”

Nicole scowled at him, grabbing the tickets and squeezing Waverly’s hand. Dolls winked at them as he watched them walk away, trying his best to keep his laugh to himself. 

The two walked straight to the concessions area hand in hand, neither speaking about what just happened. Both girls were still reeling from embarrassment, and blaming the other person's awkwardness on themself. 

“Waverly! Nicole!” They heard from in front of them. They were both so far in their own thoughts that they didn’t notice Jeremy behind the concessions waving at them. 

“Hey Jer!” Waverly excitedly exclaimed. She quickly let go of Nicole’s hand and ran up to the counter, Nicole chuckling to herself at how cute the younger girl was. 

“Hey! I didn’t realize this was the theater you guys would be at,” he said, already fishing out a bucket of popcorn for the couple. 

“Jeremy, this is the only movie theater in the entire town,” Nicole laughed. Waverly playfully pushed her arm, giving her a teasing look that Nicole countered with a shrug. Just like that, any of the awkward tension was gone and they were back into their playful banter.

“I know, but I don’t know where two sexy smokeshows go on dates. Maybe you guys wanted to go out of town for the weekend,” he shrugged, before handing them a large bucket of popcorn and a large slushie with two straws. 

Waverly looked at him in confusion, “We didn’t order anything?”

Jeremy just smiled and shook his head when Nicole tried to slide some money his way. “Nope, it’s on the house, now go have fun. But not too much fun,” he winked. Nicole blushed before putting the bills back into her pocket and grabbing the items, shooting him a grateful smile. 

“You’re the best Jer!” Waverly squealed before leaning over and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He quickly returned the hug before shooing the couple away from the counter. 

Nicole and Waverly walked towards the theater together with Nicole holding their popcorn and slushie, doing her best to keep them balanced as they walked up the stairs to their seats. 

“You know, you could help me carry something,” the redhead teased.

Waverly pretended to ponder the request, before shrugging. “I mean I could, but if I did I wouldn’t be able to do this,” she said before picking up a piece of popcorn and tossing it into her mouth with flair.

“Actually you still _could_ do that,” Nicole whispered amusedly. 

“Are you two love birds done flirting? I could hear you all the way down there,” Chrissy joked from her seat beside Perry as they approached. 

Waverly blushed before taking a seat next to her friend. Nicole sat down in the spot beside the brunette, setting their snacks on the empty seat beside her. 

“We’re on a date, aren’t we supposed to be flirting?” Nicole retorted. Waverly playfully swatted her shoulder and smirked back at Chrissy. 

“I don’t know, Perry and I have been spending the time doing… _other_ … things with our mouths,” she winked. 

Nicole fake gagged and looked away, taking a sip of their slushie instead of focusing on responding to the girl. All of a sudden the movie ads were looking really interesting. 

“What’s the matter Haught, you never make out with a girl in the back of a movie theater before?” Chrissy continued. Waverly looked over at the redhead and watched as her face turned beet red. Whether it was from embarrassment or uncomfortableness she couldn’t figure out. 

“Chrissy…” Waverly warned, trying to get the blonde to get the hint and stop talking before she made this ‘date’ ten times more awkward than it needed to be. 

“I, uh,” Nicole inhaled, trying to pick her words carefully. “I’ve never been on a date before, actually,” she admitted. 

Waverly whipped around to face the taller girl, her eyes bulging at the revelation. “Wait, _what?!_ ” 

“Seriously??” Chrissy backed up. 

Nicole blushed in embarrassment. God, she thought, this movie was taking a long time to start. 

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve really only ever kissed one girl…” she trailed off, before realizing the implication when she saw the look on the brunette's face. “Besides Waverly of course! We kiss _all_ of the time. Right babe?” she amended while cringing internally. 

Waverly was still sitting there looking at Nicole in shock. Her thoughts were racing faster than they ever had before. So this was technically Nicole’s first date _ever_. Waverly was the first girl Nicole had really gotten this far with, _ever_. A part of Waverly was thrilled. She got to be Nicole’s first for a lot of things. But a part of her felt awful about it too. She got to be Nicole’s first for a lot of things, and it wasn’t even real. Despite how much Waverly wanted it to be real, and how often she sometimes even forgot that it wasn’t real, all of this is fake. She can’t even really tell how Nicole feels about her. She could very well just be doing a favor for a friend and be really good at acting. 

Nicole started to feel worried. Was her confession too much? Did Waverly now feel uncomfortable? She knew she wasn’t as experienced as most people her age, but she was starting to worry that maybe Waverly was now embarrassed to be dating her, even if it was fake. 

“Who was the girl?” Chrissy asked, oblivious to the deep thought that both of the girls seemed to be in, all while Perry silently watched the screen and ignored the gossip. 

Waverly blushed and looked away. She knew if Nicole looked at her when talking about some other girl her face would give away any hints to her feelings. “Chrissy we’re on a date, should we really be talking about exes right now?” Waverly tried to intervene.

“Oh hush,” Chrissy scoffed while swatting the air in between them, “we can talk about yours next.”

“No thank you,” Waverly said quickly. 

“It was no one babe, don’t worry,” Nicole comforted, patting Waverly’s knee and leaving her hand there to trace nonsensical patterns with her thumb. “She was a girl I met at a basketball camp over the summer. It was, like, one kiss and that was it. We never traded anything more than names, and I don’t even know what she’s up to anymore. Not that I care of course,” Nicole smiled at the brunette, who smiled back just as softly. 

“Ugh, are you guys always this cute? I swear it’s almost nauseating.” Chrissy joked before turning back towards Perry. “Why don’t you look at me like that babe?”

Perry just laughed, putting his arm around her and looking towards Nicole. “So Nicole, you talked a little bit about basketball, are you ready for the season to start?”

“Oh yeah, it’s gonna be a good one, that’s for sure. What about you?”

“Those other teams don’t stand a chance,” Perry laughed, exchanging a head nod with the redhead. 

“Speaking of basketball, Waves are you ready for all the new routines this season?” Chrissy asked, trying her best to stay involved in the conversation. 

Waverly sighed, internally dreading the thought of having to write and perform brand new routines now that the football season had ended. “Don’t even remind me. I have no idea what I’m even supposed to do this year.” 

Nicole could sense the brunette’s stress and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, rubbing her shoulder sympathetically. “It’ll be okay baby. We can figure it out, you know I’m always here to help you,” she smiled. 

Chrissy snorted, drawing both of their attention back to the blonde. “Yeah, I bet she will. Everytime Wave practiced her routines before you started dating you were practically drooling. Now I doubt she’ll even be able to get ten minutes of practice in before you start trying to rip her clothes off.”

Nicole blushed and she felt Waverly tense under her arm. God, how much was Waverly going to find out about how gay she was for this girl. If Waverly actually reciprocated her feelings for her it would be one thing, but knowing she didn’t made this so much more awkward. 

Waverly tried to hide her own blush, but it was no use. The thought of Nicole wanting her that way sent a certain feeling to the pit of her stomach. That was definitely something she would be investigating at a later date. 

“Oh hey look, the movie’s starting,” Perry said, turning Chrissy around to cuddle into his side and ending the conversation. Nicole had never been more thankful for the jock in her entire life. 

The lights dimmed in the theater until they were encompassed in darkness, the only light coming from the opening credits of the movie. Waverly shifted a little under Nicole’s arm, both sitting awkwardly straight in their seats. Nicole looked past her at Chrissy and Perry who were cuddling with the armrest between them folded up out of the way. They looked a lot more natural and less stiff than the both of them currently did, and Nicole was starting to get worried. 

“Hey Wave?” Nicole whispered.

“Yeah?” Waverly whispered back, staring way too hard at the movie. She wanted to move and get more comfortable, but she was a little worried considering the previous conversation about Nicole's experience. She was trying to figure out where the new line was with them, or if it had even shifted at all. She had always been worried about making Nicole uncomfortable or pushing things too far, but now the last thing she wanted to do was take something from Nicole that she might not want to give. 

Nicole shifted a little bit, trying to move enough to get to the arm rest between them. “Do you mind if I move this? It might be a little more comfortable for you.”

Waverly moved enough to help her push the arm rest up and settled back into her side. It was more natural, but still felt tense and Nicole couldn’t quite figure out why. She was starting to worry and knew it was something she had to address, otherwise the next hour and a half was going to be brutal. 

“Hey, are we okay?” Nicole whispered by her ear. 

Waverly shivered at the close proximity, but quickly looked up into the girl's eyes. “Of course we are, why wouldn’t we be?” she answered a little too loudly. She was met with a couple of shushes from a few rows ahead and she rolled her eyes. 

Nicole said a quiet sorry to no one in particular and looked back down, trying to keep her voice quiet. “Because no offense, but you’re really tense right now and you seem a little off,” she said, giving a small smile. She wanted Waverly to know that it wasn’t a problem to her and it was mainly just concern. 

“Oh,” Waverly exhaled. She slowly molded herself into Nicole’s side and sighed, but made sure to keep her hands to herself. Nicole could see the internal struggle in Waverly’s eyes and brought her other hand to her face, using her index finger to prop up her chin to make her look her in the eyes.

“Waverly. What’s on your mind right now? Are you regretting this? We can leave if we need to.”

Waverly’s eyes went wide from shock, “What? No!” she quietly exclaimed. There was another round of shushes from around them and Chrissy turned to eye them curiously. This time they both ignored everyone.

Nicole chuckled and rubbed Waverly’s shoulder with the hand from her arm wrapped around her. “Then why are you acting like you’ve never even touched another human being before? Waves, it’s just me.”

Waverly sighed, wrapping her opposite arm over Nicole's torso and finally fitting fully into her side. It felt nice, but Waverly couldn’t help but feel guilty for it. “Because, I didn’t know you had never…” she trailed off, not knowing what might offend her.

Nicole looked down at her skeptically, “Never what?”

Waverly looked down at her own arm resting on the girl's stomach. She paid attention to the slight rise and fall that would happen with every breath. “I didn’t know that you had never been on a date before. Or made out with a person before. Or honestly done any of this stuff that I’ve basically forced you into. I’ve taken so many of your firsts and it’s not fair to you. You deserve to be able to do these things with someone you really want to, not with someone you feel obligated to help,” she whispered.

Nicole could feel her own heart breaking. It was taking everything in her body not to just say it. To say how she felt about this beautiful girl in her arms. But she knew she shouldn’t. “Baby, everything that I’m doing right now I want to be doing. I would tell you if anything was becoming too much. I don’t mind the questions, sometimes they’re just so random and out there that I’m not prepared for them. I had no problem with you knowing those things about me, I had just never really had a time to tell you, and it never really came up. Especially since I didn’t even tell you that I like girls until last week,” she chuckled.

Waverly tilted her head up, using every bit of will power she had to not glance down at the older girl's lips. “You’re sure you don’t mind this? You don’t want to run yet?” she teased, but secretly knew she needed to ask for her own sanity. 

Nicole smiled down at the shorter girl and leaned down to rest their foreheads together. “There is nowhere I would rather be than right here with you right now, holding you and watching this cheesy and overly straight romcom while we make fun of how cliché it is.” 

Waverly huffed out a small laugh and brought her hand to the side of Nicole’s neck. All she could think about was how easy it would be to lean forward a few centimeters and connect their lips. Instead she moved her head to rest in the crook of her neck and sighed as they held each other. She could have sworn she felt Nicole’s breath hitch for a moment, but she wasn’t positive. She leaned forward and placed a light kiss on Nicole’s pulse point. She smiled when she felt Nicole shiver under her.

Nicole could feel her mind fogging. Every part of her wanted to lean down and take Waverly’s face in hers and kiss her senseless. Feeling the brunette's lips on her neck, for even just a second, was enough to make her lose all train of thought and focus for the rest of the night. 

Not long into the movie the irony wasn’t lost on Nicole. They got roped into seeing a movie about two people who both got stuck in a fake dating situation. Maybe this would be a good chance to take some notes.

“Should we be doing that?” Nicole whispered into Waverly’s hair. 

Waverly hummed, trying to think back to whatever part they just watched. “The hand in the back pocket thing?”

“Mhmm.”

Waverly giggled, trying not to be too loud in the packed theater. “I don’t know if that’s really a thing babe.”

“Hmm,” Nicole nodded, mentally ticking that off the list she’d been compiling in her mind. “What about the love note thing? I could leave them for you in your locker if you wanted?”

Waverly blushed and tried to bury her face a little closer to Nicole’s neck but still attempted to see the screen. “I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but you definitely don’t have to.”

“Noted. What about the lock screen thing? I have plenty of perfect pictures I could use,” Nicole smirked. 

Waverly shot her head up at that, giving Nicole a glare. “Nicole Haught, don’t you dare.”

Nicole quietly laughed and pulled Waverly back down. “I’m just kidding. I would obviously save those for the home screen,” she lilted. 

Waverly slapped her stomach with the hand that had been resting there. “Whatever. Just remember I have just as many bad pictures of you.”

“Hey, you can make your home screen whatever you want, as long as the lock screen makes me look hot,” Nicole quipped.

“Yeah yeah, just watch the movie. The pictures will be _haught_ , don't you worry,” she teased.

Nicole laughed and settled back into the seat with Waverly curled into her side.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About halfway through the movie Waverly felt a finger poke into her side, and it wasn’t Nicole’s since she was acutely aware of where her hands had been all night. She looked over her shoulder and saw Chrissy sitting up in her seat. 

“Hey, I need to go to the bathroom, come with me?” Chrissy asked, giving her a weird look.

Waverly looked at her in confusion but nodded her head regardless. She turned around to look up at Nicole apologetically, who just shrugged and let go of her so she could get up. 

Waverly followed Chrissy through the theater and into the bathroom, trying to figure out what the blonde was up to. Chrissy had a strict rule about leaving during a movie, so either Chrissy just started her period and needed the emotional support, or something happened with Perry. 

“Okay, what’s the deal with you and Nicole?” she asked instead. 

Waverly winced a little at the tone of her voice, she was worried Chrissy would catch on eventually but she didn’t think it would be this soon. “What are you talking about? We’re watching a movie,” she laughed nervously. 

“Yeah, exactly. You’re _watching the movie_ ,” she supplied, hoping Waverly would finally get the hint. 

“Okay now I’m lost, what’s the problem here?”

Chrissy sighed loudly, slumping against the wall in defeat. “You guys are laying there and watching the movie. You have been the entire time.”

“Wow, I’m surprised you even noticed that from your spot in Perry’s mouth.”

“ _Exactly!_ You guys haven't done anything except sit there and cuddle the whole time!” Chrissy exclaimed, exasperated. 

“Chrissy, some people go to the movies to actually watch them, not to just make out in the back row the whole time,” Waverly defended. 

Chrissy scoffed, “Waverly, we’re all horny teenagers. No we don’t. This is what the movies are for.”

Waverly sighed, “Look, our dates are waiting for us in a movie that we came with them to, shouldn’t we get back before they get suspicious?” 

“Sure, if you admit what’s going on with you. Waverly, you’re my best friend. I know something’s going on with you. You've been tense all week and you’ve been acting really secretive. Please just _talk_ to me,” Chrissy begged. 

Waverly looked down at the ground, contemplating whether or not she should tell her the truth. It would be nice to be able to vent to someone other than Nicole. Especially because the majority of her stress is about things she _can’t_ tell Nicole. “Alright. Fine. Nicole and I aren’t dating, okay?”

Chrissy’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh _shit_ ,” she whispered. “I wasn’t expecting that. I thought maybe there was something wrong with Wynonna or Nicole, but I didn’t think you guys were _faking it_.”

Waverly exhaled the breath she had been holding. She knew Chrissy wasn’t judging her, she was just processing the information. “Look, Chris, we don’t really have time to talk about this right now. What if I just call you when I get home and explain everything?” she bargained.

Chrissy nodded her head vigorously, “Deal. But before we go back, you should know you guys are selling it really well. I can tell you really like her, and trust me, that girl is head over heels for you. She has been for a while. There’s a reason Steph and I dared you to kiss you know,” Chrissy said, giving the girl a soft smile.

Waverly returned the sentiment before turning around and walking towards their screening room. When she sat back down in her spot she immediately turned back to Nicole’s side. Nicole looked down at Waverly in concern, she could tell her mood had shifted since the two came back.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

Waverly nodded, pushing herself further into Nicole’s neck and breathing deep. Only a little more of the movie to go and then she could just go home and try to forget about the situation she got herself into.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the movie ended, Nicole took Waverly’s hand and walked her out of the theater. She could tell that Waverly had been upset after her trip to the bathroom with Chrissy but couldn’t figure out why. She tried to make little jokes throughout the rest of the movie to make Waverly laugh, but the most she got was a huff of acknowledgement, as if she was trying to keep Nicole from feeling bad. 

When they got back into the car Nicole immediately turned to Waverly, who just as quickly turned to hug her. Nicole was taken aback, but wrapped her arms around the shorter girl and kissed the crown of her head. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nicole whispered into her hair.

Waverly shook her head, but spoke anyway. “Chrissy knows. She guessed something was up since we weren’t making out during the movie,” she let out a dry laugh. 

Nicole pulled back a little and Waverly moved her head up to look at her. Nicole moved her hand to cup her cheek and wipe away the few tears that had escaped while Waverly sniffled. “Is that a bad thing?” the redhead asked.

Waverly shook her head, “No, it’s not really. She just said some things that really got me thinking and I just couldn’t get out of my head for the rest of the night. I’m sorry if I ruined the night for you,” she apologized, trying to look away.

“No,” Nicole whispered, using the hand on her cheek to move her face back toward hers. “No,” she repeated with conviction. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I had the perfect night Waverly.”

“Really?”

Nicole nodded and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “Really.”

Waverly sighed at the feeling of Nicole’s lips on her skin, wishing more than anything that they could be on her own. 

They both pulled apart and settled into their seats in comfortable silence. They took the short drive back to the homestead, Nicole tapping the steering wheel to the beat of the song crooning softly over the radio. Waverly looked out the window, leaning her head against the glass and watching the town fly by. It was moments like this where everything felt so easy. It felt like nothing could hurt them and they could just stay in their little bubble, untouchable. 

It felt like no time had passed by the time they pulled up to the homestead. Waverly went to open her door but before she could Nicole had sprinted around the car and was opening her own door for her. It was the small things like this that made Waverly fall deeper and deeper for the redhead. 

Nicole opened Waverly’s door and stuck out her hand, smiling down at the girl. Waverly took a hold of her hand and got out, expecting that to be the end of the exchange for the night. Instead, she felt Nicole tug her hand and start to walk her to the front door. Waverly smiled wide, completely baffled by the thoughtfulness of the girl in front of her. 

When they stepped onto the porch Waverly turned to fully face the taller girl, taking in the sight of her before she would have to head inside. Nicole smiled down at her and brought her hand to her cheek. Waverly’s eyes fluttered shut involuntarily. If this were a real date, this would be the part where they would kiss under the porch light before turning in for the night. 

Except it wasn’t a real date. And both of them kept having to remind themselves of that the whole night. No matter how much both of them wanted it to be. They weren’t actually dating. So Nicole did the only thing she could think to do. She leaned forward, causing Waverly’s eyes to open slightly and her breath to hitch. At the last second Nicole redirected, placing a gentle, lingering kiss to the shorter girls cheek. 

When Nicole pulled back Waverly smiled at the look on her face. The look that could only be described as pure, unfiltered love. And Waverly wished more than anything that that love was a different kind. 

“What was that for?” Waverly whispered.

Nicole smiled that dimpled smile that always made her heart soar simultaneously. “You deserved a proper date. And what kind of date would it be if you didn’t get a kiss at your doorstep?”

The innocence of Nicole’s answer made Waverly melt. There were times where Nicole Haught could be the sexiest, hottest person Waverly had ever seen. But there were other times where Nicole Haught was the cutest girl with the most adorable puppy dog eyes that Waverly would die for. This was one of those times. 

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around? You’re the one who’s never been on a proper date before,” Waverly chuckled lightly. 

“Please, you dated Champ 'dipshit' Hardy. I’m pretty sure you’ve never been on a real, proper date either,” the older girl smirked. 

Waverly bursted out with one of the most full laughs she had ever had in her life. Nicole could make her emotions shift from one to the other so quickly that it never ceased to amaze her. She shook her head as her laughter died down. “Okay, you might have a point.”

“Mhmm, that’s what I thought. This is a first for both of us and you know it.”

“Well, I can safely say there’s no one else I would rather have this experience with,” Waverly smiled. 

Nicole beamed, feeling better than she had all night. Maybe one day they could do this for real. Maybe. Until then, she could make do with this. “Good night, Waverly Earp,” she breathed, squeezing the smaller girl's hand as she slowly backed off the porch.

“Goodnight, Nicole Haught,” she whispered back before opening her front door and letting herself in. She shut the door and leaned her back against it, letting out a breath she felt like she had been holding the whole night. Soon... Soon, she would tell Nicole how she felt . And maybe, just maybe, Nicole would feel the same way about her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like everyone to sincerely understand I chose the movie they watched because it's one of my favorites, it dawned on me MUCH later the irony of them watching it and I had to write it in lol.   
> I know this was pretty long, hopefully that makes up for how long it's been! My goals for the next few weeks are to get a good upload schedule for you all, as you can see there are officially only 4 chapters left!  
> I also have a 6 chapter Christmas fic coming up and a 4 chapter college fic all worked out! There's also a HUGE project coming up, it's a collab fic with a friend of mine and we've spent countless hours making it perfect, so I hope you all enjoy it :) There will be updates about it on my twitter.  
> Anyways, that's all!  
> As always please leave comments and kudos, they make my day and make me work faster :D  
> Wanna talk or yell at me? Here's my twitter!   
> @sydthekid41319


	7. Cheer Routines and Interruptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly needs help practicing her cheer routine and Wynonna does what she does best

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope everyone's been doing well!  
> I'm trying really hard to crank out some chapters for you guys, hopefully this is the start of the weekly schedule I'm attempting to perfect lol.  
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I'm not sure how I feel about it but I did my best. We're almost at the big chapter, so hang in there!  
> As always, enjoy your Wayhaught ;)

Nicole woke up Saturday morning feeling better than she had felt in a _long_ time. Everything with Waverly was incredible Her only problem being that none of it was real. At least not for Waverly. For Nicole, this was all very, very real.

Nicole couldn’t stop thinking about her, which really wasn’t anything new. But now... now all of her thoughts were deeper than before. Every touch. Every kiss. Everything that had happened between them in the last week had been replaying in her mind; every second of every day. 

She knew she had to get out of the house. It was only 7:30 in the morning but she knew she wouldn’t be going back to sleep any time soon. She quickly threw on a thin black tank top and grey form fitting leggings before running out of the front door. Maybe her usual morning run would be enough to clear her head for a while. 

Halfway through her route she saw a familiar red jeep in the driveway of Nedley’s house. Well, any chance of not thinking about Waverly this morning was completely gone. As she passed by she saw Waverly standing at the front door talking animatedly to Chrissy.

Nicole slowed her jog and took a slight detour to stand in front of the house, waiting for one of the two to notice her. Not even a few seconds later, Chrissy’s eyes lit up.

“Hey Waves, look, it’s your girlfriend,” Chrissy smiled, waving at Nicole who was making her way to the porch. 

“Ha ha, very funny Chrissy. Waverly told me that she told you,” Nicole replied, sliding up to a beaming Waverly. 

“You two are no fun,” Chrissy pouted.

Waverly looked up at Nicole, leaning in to offer the taller girl a side hug. “What are you doing up so early?” 

Nicole shrugged, throwing her arm over the smaller girl's shoulders naturally. “I couldn’t sleep. I figured I’d get my run out of the way early.”

Chrissy watched the two interact, an amazing idea blooming in her head. “Hey! You know what, I completely forgot that I’m supposed to meet Perry in a little. Pssh, silly me,” she confessed, smacking herself in the forehead as if it should have been obvious to her. 

“Chrissy…” Waverly warned. Nicole kept a confused eye on the two while trying to piece together what she was missing from their conversation. 

“Yeah, crazy I know. But Waverly, I’m sure Haught here wouldn’t mind if you practiced with her,” Chrissy smirked slyly. Waverly shot her friend her best ‘I’m going to kill you’ look. 

“Practice?” Nicole questioned, turning her attention towards Waverly.

Waverly continued to glare at Chrissy before turning to Nicole and giving her a shy smile. “With the basketball season starting soon and me being cheer captain and all, I have to come up with the new routines. As you know. I was going to practice them on Chrissy, but _apparently_ she made other plans,” she chided, shooting a sideways glance at an unapologetic Chrissy.

“Oh,” Nicole said with wide eyes while trying to figure out why there was so much tension. Waverly had practiced her routines on her plenty of times before. “Well I mean, I’m free all day. That is, if you need my help?” Nicole offered. 

Waverly sighed. She knew it wasn’t a big deal. She had done this so many times before and it had been just fine. Except that was before everything got so complicated. Before the touches and kisses. Before her feelings started spiraling out of control. Now she was just met with uncontrollable nerves at the thought of performing for Nicole in private. 

Chrissy chimed in for Waverly before she had the chance to answer the redhead. “Oh she would love to,” she beamed. 

Waverly elbowed the blonde, trying to be subtle about it, but failing miserably. Nicole looked back and forth between the two girls with a furrowed brow. Something wasn’t adding up. Was Waverly worried she was going to act weird seeing her perform her cheer routines now? Is that what this was about? She did look extremely uncomfortable. Was Nicole making her feel weird now?

“You don’t have to…” Nicole trailed off, attempting to give Waverly an out.

Waverly whipped her head around so quickly it could have given her whiplash. “No!” she exclaimed; causing Nicole to wince and Chrissy to stifle a laugh. “I mean, no. It’s totally fine. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time right?” Waverly rambled. 

“Yeah, totally,” Nicole nodded, scuffing her sneaker on the wooden porch while looking down at the ground. 

The three of them stood on the porch in awkward silence, none of them knowing what to say next. Chrissy looked between the two and sighed, “Well, thanks for dropping off the new uniform Waves. Have fun! Let me know how it goes,” the blonde winked before shutting the door.

Waverly internally cursed the blonde. She was going to give her a piece of her mind later, that’s for sure. She looked up at Nicole, who was watching her intently, and gave her a coy smile. “Hi,” she whispered.

Nicole smiled back at her and leaned against the porch railing. “Hi,” she replied in the same manner. 

Waverly turned to walk towards her car and looked back over her shoulder, “You comin?” 

Nicole stumbled off of the porch and followed Waverly to the jeep, quickly hopping in the passenger seat. “So, new uniforms. Am I gonna get to see these before the game?” Nicole asked once Waverly started the car and backed out of the driveway. 

“Well, I was planning on throwing it on when I practiced, but now I think I might just save it for later,” Waverly teased. 

Nicole swallowed thickly, keeping her eyes on the road straight ahead. She fidgeted with her hands in her lap and glanced over at Waverly. “Are you nervous about your routines?” Nicole probed, trying to keep the conversation going. For some reason everything felt tense.

Waverly shrugged, “A little. I did okay coming up with them for the football season, I’m just hoping these are alright too.”

“They’ll be great Waves, don’t worry too much. Besides, I’m here to help you remember?” Nicole comforted. 

Waverly glanced over at Nicole and smiled, placing her hand on her knee and squeezing. “I know. Thank you. It means a lot.”

Nicole smiled back, “Anytime,” she responded. Just like that, the tension was gone from both of them and everything felt normal again. It felt _right_. 

They pulled up outside the homestead and got out; walking side by side up on the porch and into the house. 

“Oh shit, what’s up Haught? I feel like I haven’t seen you in years!” Wynonna boomed from the kitchen once the two shut the door. She had half her body in the refrigerator looking for something, but had enough decency to pull out a little to look at the juniors. 

“Wynonna, I just saw you at school yesterday,” Nicole said obviously. Wynonna just shrugged back at her and returned to her previous position in the fridge.

Waverly rolled her eyes and grabbed Nicole’s hand. “Come on,” she sighed, dragging the redhead up the stairs. 

“Hey, no boning! The walls are thin and we don’t have the money to pay for my therapy bills,” Wynonna yelled up at the retreating couple. 

“I know, believe me I’ve dealt with the thin walls for years. If either of us needs therapy, it’s me,” Waverly tossed over her shoulder and down the stairs before turning and opening her bedroom room door. 

When they walked in Nicole plopped down onto the end of the bed with her legs dangling over the side while Waverly sat down in her desk chair in front of her. She placed her elbows on the desk and sighed, immediately putting her head in her hands and rubbing her temples. Nicole could feel the stress emanating off of the smaller girl so she crossed the room and knelt on the ground next to her. 

“Hey… it’s okay. Don’t get too stressed. You haven’t even tried the routines yet,” Nicole consoled, rubbing soothing circles on the other girls back with her hand. 

Waverly sighed and slumped down in her chair, bringing her hand to the back of her neck and rubbing it to attempt to get the knots out. “I know, I know. I just can’t help it. With all of this on top of homework and everything else going on, it’s just a lot,” she admitted, closing her eyes.

Nicole felt nothing but sympathy for the brunette and wished there was something she could do. She got up and stood behind Waverly’s chair, placing her hands on the girl’s shoulders. She slowly started kneading out the muscles, feeling all of her tension. 

“Jesus Wave, you’re so tight,” Nicole spoke before catching her words. Her eyes bulged and she immediately stopped her movements, wanting nothing more in that moment than to just die from embarrassment.

Waverly somehow didn’t notice, or maybe she just didn’t care. She just groaned and threw her head back before whining. “Please don’t stop. That actually felt really, really good.”

Nicole’s entire face turned redder than her hair and she had to contemplate her next actions. She was going to continue to massage the girl’s shoulders before she was hit with an idea. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a massage later; once you finish your routines. Deal?”

Waverly groaned again, but sat up regardless. Nicole smirked and walked over to the bed, sitting down on the end of it like she had when she first walked in. 

Waverly stood up from her seat and looked over the notebook she had laid out on her desk that had her routines written in it. Nicole bounced up and down on the bed with a giddy smile on her face in order to lighten the mood. Waverly laughed at her and shook her head, causing her shoulders to relax slightly. Mission accomplished. 

The smaller girl walked across the room to a speaker she had set on a wooden dresser. She powered it on and hooked it up to her phone, scrolling through her cheer playlist and picking the song she had been searching for. 

When Waverly started her cheer routine Nicole stared at her in fascination and awe. Every move was so deliberate, so smooth. Every kick of her legs, every roll of her body, every movement of her arms. Nicole was completely and utterly captivated by the brunette moving in front of her. 

Waverly watched Nicole during her performance with a smirk on her face. She continued moving to the beat of the music, slowly getting closer to Nicole throughout the song. She watched Nicole’s breath hitch as she moved. 

Nicole sat on the edge of the mattress, studying the cheerleader intently. She kept her hands at her sides; fisted tightly into the sheets in order to keep herself from reaching out to the brunette. 

Waverly looked down at Nicole, softly singing the song to the redhead as she stared back at her. Nicole’s mouth was agape and her eyes were wide. Waverly knew exactly what she was doing to the girl, and she loved every second of it. 

By the time the music stopped, Waverly was right in front of Nicole; breathing heavily from her dance. “What do you think?” Waverly panted out. 

Nicole continued to stare wide eyed at the girl, all thoughts having left her brain. She finally realized she had been asked a question and began nodding. In that moment it was the best she could do. She was completely speechless. “ _Wow_ ,” she breathed. 

Waverly smiled down at her, “Yeah?”

Nicole continued nodding, “Oh yeah.”

“I wasn’t sure if it would be people’s thing,” Waverly mumbled, twirling her hair between her fingers nervously.

Nicole began shaking her head, “Oh baby, that’s everybody’s thing.”

Waverly beamed, moving to the ground to sit between Nicole’s knees and lean against the bed. She leaned her head back into the inside of Nicole's thigh, closed her eyes and sighed, finally gaining her composure. 

“Although, there might be one problem,” Nicole concluded.

“Hmm?” the brunette hummed, using her fingers to trace patterns on the skin of Nicole’s shin aimlessly. 

Nicole inhaled sharply at the unexpected contact and closed her eyes, trying to keep her mind focused. “As your girlfriend, logically I don’t know if I can approve of you doing that in front of the whole school. People will most definitely try to steal you from me.”

This time it was Waverly’s turn for her breath to catch in her chest. She smiled softly, humming again as she felt the redhead’s breath quicken. “That could never happen,” Waverly whispered. 

Nicole snapped her head down, looking straight at the top of Waverly’s head. Waverly felt the quick movement and turned a little, moving her head up to look back fully at Nicole. They stared at each other for a moment, both trying to gage the situation and figure out what to do next. It would be so, so easy for Waverly to just lean up and do the thing she’d been dreaming about for months. 

Waverly’s eyes flitted down to Nicole’s lips for a brief second. She hadn’t even realized she had done it, until she felt Nicole start to lean forward. She could feel herself being pulled in, ever so slowly. Her eyes fluttered shut. She wanted nothing more than to take in the moment that was about to happen. _Finally_. 

Nicole had almost closed the gap between them when they heard the bedroom door bang open. “Hey, Waverly, do you want pizza for dinner or- _oh_ , fuck, sorry,” Wynonna apologized when she saw the couple. They quickly moved apart. Waverly was now standing by her desk while Nicole stood in front of the bed. They both looked like deer caught in headlights. 

“I don’t know why you guys look so freaked out, I literally watched you guys make out the other day. It’s not like I walked in on something worse,” Wynonna mocked.

“Wynonna…” Waverly murmured. Nicole just stood there, staring at the sisters, trying to come to terms with what she had almost done. She almost kissed Waverly. And Waverly almost kissed her back. Right? Or was it just the heat of the moment? Regardless, Nicole almost kissed Waverly, and she didn’t really know how to feel about that fact. 

They had kissed before, sure. But all of it had been in front of other eyes. They had never kissed for just them. The thought of that finally happening made her giddy, but also terrified. What if that’s not what Waverly really wanted? Sure she seemed into the idea right now, but so much had happened in the last few days, and today had already been a lot. Nicole was so far in her head she didn’t hear the sisters bantering back and forth. 

“Uhh, red?” Wynonna questioned, snapping her fingers in front of Nicole’s face. Nicole snapped out of her daze and stared back at Wynonna, shaking her head. “Jeez, is my sister that good in bed? You’re so out of it right now.”

Nicole stuttered, not knowing a good way to answer that. Luckily, Waverly chimed in before she even had a chance. “Jesus, _Wynonna!_ Just, go downstairs okay? We’ll be down later,” Waverly said in annoyance. 

“Actually, I should probably go. I never really told my mom I was coming over here. She’s probably going to want me home,” Nicole said apologetically. 

“Oh,” Waverly sighed out. “Okay. Well, umm, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Nicole gave her a tight-lipped smile and nodded, trying to be as non-awkward as possible given the situation. Wynonna had just walked in on their first real honest to God kiss. “Yeah, totally. I’ll see you later Waves.”

Nicole walked past Wynonna in the doorway, who offered a “Nice kicks,” before Nicole went down the stairs and left the house to walk back home. 

Waverly dropped down onto her back on her bed and sighed, folding her arms over her face. Wynonna looked the girl over in confusion. “What’s wrong babygirl? You seemed fine earlier when you two first got home.”

Wynonna walked over to the bed before sitting down next to her sister. “Yeah, well, that was before we almost kissed,” Waverly mumbled under her arm.

This only made the older Earp more confused. “What do you mean? What, is Haught not a good kisser or something?” 

Waverly shook her head vehemently, “No no, that’s not it at all. God, she’s amazing.” She heard Wynonna gag but she continued on anyway. “We’re not actually dating, Wy.”

Wynonna sat there, slowly nodding to herself as she processed the new information, but it still didn’t make much sense. “I’m sorry, I’m gonna need you to explain. What do you mean you’re not actually dating?”

Waverly sighed, sitting up and moving further up the bed until her back rested against the headboard. “When we went to the football party, Champ came up to me. He started saying all of this shit, and I let it slip that I was seeing someone and that I was over him. I just wanted to get him off my back. At the time it didn’t really occur to me that I wasn’t actually seeing anyone. So I just let a name slip.”

“And it just so happened to be your crush, aka Nicole,” Wynonna finished for her. 

Waverly snapped her head up in her sister’s direction; her eyes wide. “You knew?!”

Wynonna chuckled and moved on the bed to sit next to the younger girl. “Waves, when it comes to that girl you’ve always worn your heart on your sleeve. I’m sure everyone’s known for a while now.”

Waverly sat there staring out into the openness of her room, and thinking about everything that had happened between them in the past week. Things were moving so fast, yet they didn’t feel like they were really moving at all because of the pretenses of their ‘relationship’. 

“I really love her, Wynonna,” Waverly whispered, finally fully admitting it to herself and to someone else for the first time out loud.

“I know babygirl,” Wynonna sighed, reaching over to wrap her arm around the smaller girl’s shoulders and squeezed. Waverly slumped into her side and closed her eyes. “If it makes you feel any better, she loves you too.”

Waverly snapped her head up to look at her sister fully. “You really think so?”

Wynonna huffed out a laugh, kissing the crown of the younger girl's head. “Yes, it’s nauseating how perfect and in love with each other you two are. Seriously, you guys make ‘The Notebook’ look bleak,” Wynonna admitted, chuckling at her own joke. 

Waverly laughed, snuggling deeper into Wynonna’s side. “Thanks ‘Nonna.”

“Pssh, don’t worry about it kid, just go get your girl,” Wynonna responded, gently squeezing the brunette. 

One thing was for certain. Waverly had every intention of getting the girl. It was just a matter of ‘how’ and ‘when’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's next? Well, we haven't seen a couples weekend getaway yet have we...? Not saying that's gonna happen of course, I'll just let you all ponder that one ;)  
> Also, my friend @ddamaged_ and I are about to release our new fic, and I promise you you're gonna love it. How do you all feel about soulmate/ enemies to lovers/ high school AUs? :)  
> If you liked this chapter leave a kudos and a comment, they really do mean the world to me <3  
> Wanna talk? Here's my twitter!  
> @sydthekid41319


	8. One Big Couples Camping Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group goes on a camping trip before Nicole’s big game, but it doesn’t go quite as expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this is a little bit later than usual, I was working on the next chapter for this story and another chapter for my new collab with @ddamaged_ “Tattoo My Skin With Your Fingertips (And Leave Your Mark On Me)” which will be posted sometime TOMORROW so keep an eye out for that, it’s probably one of my new favorite stories you won’t regret it!!  
> Anyways, enjoy your Wayhaught :)

“Alright everybody, the first basketball game of the year is Saturday night so you know what that means!” Jeremy exclaimed excitedly as he speed-walked up to the lunch table.

Wynonna looked at him inquisitively, “If this sentence doesn’t end with ‘party’ and ‘getting hammered’, I’m sorry, but I won’t be there.”

Nicole rolled her eyes, “Does there _always_ have to be alcohol for you to have a good time, Earp?”

“Not always, sometimes there’s sex when she’s sober,” Waverly interjected, lacing her fingers together with Nicole’s on top of the table. 

“Ew, you have sex sober? God, how do you do that,” Mercedes gawked at the older brunette.

Wynonna was too busy gaping at her younger sister. “How the hell do you know that?”

Waverly scoffed, raising her eyes at Wynonna. “Remember the whole ‘therapy’ conversation from the other day? Yeah. That.”

Nicole did her best to hide her laughter behind her hand, but failed miserably. The whole table burst into a fit of laughter until Jeremy cleared his throat. 

“How we got to this conversation I have no idea, but Waverly I am so sorry. _Anyways_ , no Wynonna, it means COUPLES CAMPING TRIP!” Jeremy yelled, causing some people at the table to flinch. 

“Couples camping trip?” Rosita questioned.

Jeremy nodded his head repeatedly, “Yeah! Most of us are in relationships, so this could be a fun way to wish Nicole goodluck for her first game!”

Everyone at the table simultaneously looked towards Nicole, who just stared at Jeremy in confusion. “Uhh. I don’t think that’s necessary…” she trailed off.

Waverly looked at Jeremy skeptically. “Is this just an excuse to have that camping trip you’ve been talking about for the last year?”

Jeremy sighed, dropping his forehead onto the table. “ _Fine. Maybe,_ ” he groaned. 

Nicole laughed, looking between Waverly and Jeremy before nodding her head. “I mean hell, I’m game,” she shrugged, which shocked everyone at the table.

“Wait, really??” Jeremy asked excitedly. 

Waverly turned to Nicole, still keeping their hands joined. “Really?” she asked softly. 

Nicole turned to her and shrugged again. “I mean, why not? If Jeremy wants to do it that bad, it’s not like we had any plans Friday night. Right?” Nicole asked, wanting to double check with the brunette. 

It was Waverly’s turn to shrug. “Yeah, we didn’t. Sure Jeremy, I’m in,” Waverly turned to him and smiled. 

Jeremy fisted pumped the air in excitement and Robin wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulders and smiled. “Okay, who else is in?” Jeremy asked. 

“Not a chance, nerd burglar. I’ve got plans this Friday and they don’t involve tents. Or clothes, actually,” Wynonna winked. 

Waverly gagged and leaned her forehead on Nicole’s shoulder, shaking her head vigorously. “Dear God,” she groaned. Nicole laughed and moved her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders.

Chrissy piped up from across the table. “Perry and I should be able to go,” she offered.

“Awesome! Anyone else?” Jeremy asked the table. Everyone else either shook their head or continued eating. “Alright, cool cool. Good to know,” Jeremy finished awkwardly. 

Nicole smiled over to the boy. “When do we go?” 

“Friday night. We’ll get there early in the day, spend the night, and then leave Saturday morning so you can get ready for your game, varsity star!”

Nicole looked down at the table and blushed. Anytime anyone talked about her games, or her basketball skills, she got self-conscious. Waverly looked over at her and squeezed her thigh reassuringly under the table, causing Nicole to give her a soft smile. If there’s one thing Nicole knew, it was that no matter how good she was at the sport, it wouldn’t be the same without Waverly Earp cheering her on from the sidelines. 

\--------------------

When Friday night rolled around the three couples all met at Jeremy’s house. Everyone piled into the boy’s van since he was the only one who knew where the camping ground was and he had the biggest car. 

After about a 20 minute drive they arrived at a secluded wooded area. Everyone got out of the car and went around to the rear hatch to grab their overnight bags.

“Jeremy, this place looks incredible,” Nicole complimented, smiling over to the nervous looking boy. 

Jeremy smiled back, his shoulders dropping a little at the reassurance. “Thanks Nicole, I’ve been trying to get a group trip here for forever but no one ever wanted to go. It just feels so romantic out here,” he sighed. 

Waverly walked up behind Nicole and wrapped her arms around her middle, placing her chin on the taller girl's shoulder. “Well Jer, you picked a really great spot. Except I can’t find the cabin anywhere?”

Jeremy’s eyes widened, realizing he forgot a very important detail. “Oh! Yeah about that, it’s not that kind of camping trip.”

Chrissy brow furrowed from her spot behind Jeremy. “What do you mean? Were we supposed to bring like tents or something?”

The shorter boy shook his head, “Nope! This ground is for tents and hammocks only. I didn’t have a tent, _but_ I did have three hammocks and happened to find this area where the trees are close enough to hang them!” he explained enthusiastically.

Nicole looked at him in confusion. “Three hammocks? Jeremy, there’s six of us.”

Jeremy scoffed, moving things around in the hatch to get the hammocks and camping supplies out. “Well, _yeah,_ but there are _three_ couples. So, one hammock per couple. They're all two person sized, so they’ll be able to fit all of us. Besides, it’s not like we wouldn’t be cuddling with our people anyways, right?”

Waverly and Nicole both turned to each other, eyes wide from the unexpected information. Chrissy stood behind Jeremy trying to hold in her laughter at the turn of events. Waverly looked over at Chrissy and shot her a glare, the blonde mouthing an unapologetic ‘sorry’ with a smirk in response. 

As everyone gathered their things from the van and headed towards the campsite, Nicole and Waverly stayed behind with their things, both still rooted to the ground in shock. 

“This’ll be fine, right? I mean, we’ve slept in the same bed before. Countless times. This can’t be that much different, right?” Nicole asked, turning her attention to the brunette beside her. 

Waverly just nodded slowly, staring ahead at the inside of the trunk and trying to get her bearings for the night ahead of them. “Right. How much different can it be?”

\--------------------

Nicole laid unmoving, stiff as a board inside of the blue and white striped hammock Jeremy had given them. It was probably around three in the morning and she hadn’t had a wink of sleep. Waverly, however, had no problem climbing in the hammock and practically laying on top of Nicole, falling asleep instantly. 

Nicole kept one arm to her side, the other curled loosely around the smaller girl's middle. The brunette slept with her head on the redhead's shoulder and her hand resting on the girl's chest. Something about sleeping pressed together in a hammock in the middle of the woods felt far more intimate than just cuddling together in a huge bed. 

The night hadn’t been too awkward. In fact, it was a pretty great time. They built a small fire in the space between their hammocks. They stayed there for a few hours, swapping stories and roasting marshmallows before the group decided to call it a night. The couples then found the perfect trees surrounding them to fit their hammocks. They were far enough away from each other where they could have a conversation without another couple hearing, but close enough where they could all see one another if they tried. 

Nicole looked down at Waverly, who was snoring softly on her. It was times like this she wished everything was real between them so she could hold her just a little tighter. Her brunette locks were loose in waves down her back, and all Nicole wanted to do was run her fingers through it.

As Nicole watched her, she noticed Waverly started to lightly thrash and murmur in her sleep. She could tell the girl was having a nightmare, but didn’t know if it was her place to wake her. After a second of contemplating, she gently shook her by her waist and whispered comfortingly in her ear. “Waves… Waves, wake up baby. It’s just a dream.”

Waverly woke with a start, almost head butting Nicole in the process. 

“Woah, hey, it’s ok,” Nicole whispered, rubbing soothing circles on the girls back. Waverly was breathing heavy, her eyes trying her best to focus on Nicole in the dark of the night. Waverly rested her forehead on Nicole’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around the taller girl’s middle and breathing her in.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nicole asked, continuing her movement on the brunette’s lower back. 

Waverly sighed, shaking her head. “Honestly, I don’t even remember it,” she muttered.

Nicole nodded, placing her chin on top of the shorter girl’s head and bringing her other hand up to comb through Waverly’s hair in an attempt to calm her down. She could feel the brunettes heart racing in her chest against her stomach, and she wracked her brain for things she could say that could help her. Before she could say anything, however, Waverly spoke up first. 

“You know,” she sighed, “my life has always been so complicated. It’s always been one thing after another, but I’ve always just had to go with it you know? Daddy being a drunk, mama leaving, Wynonna being… Wynonna. None of it’s been easy,” the smaller girl ranted.

Nicole looked down at her in sympathy, wanting to find something to say that could comfort her but falling short. Anything she could say would just sound worn out and overused. ‘I’m sorry’ doesn't quite cut it, and neither does ‘it’ll be ok’. 

“Even now, God, none of this shit is easy,” Waverly continued. “I mean, look at us. We’re in a fake relationship because my douchebag of an ex boyfriend can’t keep his hands to himself and learn what ‘no’ means, and I’m literally laying on top of you because we have to keep up some cover to our closest friends because we have to continue to lie to everybody. It sucks,” she exhaled. She looked up at Nicole and saw fear in her eyes. She knew immediately what it was for. It was fear that she was causing this stress on her. Fear that she was part of the reason for Waverly’s stress. Granted she was, just not in the way she thought. 

“Waves…” Nicole tried.

Waverly shook her head, cutting her off. “No, not yet. I’m not done,” she whispered sternly, silencing Nicole. “Even though all of this shit is so hard. Even though I can’t seem to get over anything in my past and escape it, the one thing that makes all of it worth it, is you. You are the only real constant I have in my life right now. You are the only thing keeping me going. You are the _only_ person who hasn’t left me, and _God,_ I don’t know what I would do if you left me too,” she sighed, looking down at the girl’s shoulder. 

Nicole’s eyes softened. She brought her fingers up underneath the brunette's chin and tilted it upward, forcing Waverly to look her in the eyes. When their eyes locked, she could see all of the fear and anxiety in Waverly’s expression and she instantly melted. 

“ _Waverly Earp._ I will _never, ever_ leave you. I told you once, and I’ll tell you again. As long as you want me, I will be by your side. And I mean that Wave. I’m not going anywhere,” Nicole asserted.

Waverly looked into brown eyes, trying to find an ounce of a lie but coming up empty. All she saw was love and care and worrying, and it made her head spin. She felt braver than she ever had before in Nicole’s arms, which prompted her to make a split second decision. She moved the hand that was on the redhead's chest up to cup the back of the girl’s neck, tangling her fingers in the fine hairs at the base. Before Nicole could even realize what was happening, Waverly leaned forward and connected their lips in a bruising kiss. 

This kiss was nothing like the ones they had shared previously. While those kisses were tentative and exploratory, this one was rough and knowing. Waverly wasn’t holding back, and neither was Nicole. 

Nicole was frozen in shock for a second, but when she felt the brunette’s tongue brush her lower lip she quickly sprang into action. She wrapped her arms tighter around the smaller girl’s middle, bringing them flush against each other. Waverly swiped her tongue against Nicole’s bottom lip again, this time earning a moan from the redhead. Waverly used this as an opportunity to explore, gaining access into the taller girl’s mouth. Nicole felt like electricity was being shot into her veins, her neck and face feeling on fire due to Waverly’s touch.

Just when Nicole started to trail her hands up the back of Waverly’s shirt, they heard a stick break close to their hammock. They both startled apart, gasping for air and looking around their surroundings. They made eye contact with a sheepish looking Jeremy, who just waved and blushed.

“Sorry guys, just heading back to Robin. Had to use the bathroom. Uh, carry on. Just, try not to be too loud, you know, with the four of us only being a few feet away and all,” he joked, trying to ease the tension between them. He walked back to his hammock, looking down at the ground the whole way back in embarrassment. 

The girls continued to breathe heavily, their breaths mingling together. Waverly was just about to speak when Nicole broke the silence between them. 

“Nice cover,” she rasped, trying to get her breathing back to normal. She knew the kiss was too good to be true. The only reason Waverly kissed her was because she saw Jeremy coming and wanted to play it off. 

Waverly looked back at her, flustered, and brows furrowed. “Cover?”

Nicole nodded. “Yeah. You know, because Jeremy was coming,” she breathed out, doing the best she could to not seem too disappointed.

Waverly just grew more confused. “Nicole…” 

“Maybe we should just go back to sleep,” Nicole interrupted, settling herself more fully into the hammock and turning her head away from the girl, closing her eyes. 

“Yeah… sure…” Waverly whispered. They both maneuvered around as best they could in their close positions to somewhat have their backs turned to each other. At least in this position, it made it easier for the other to not see them cry. 

\--------------------

By the time morning rolled around Nicole woke up to a sleeping Waverly in her arms. It didn’t surprise her, even though they fell asleep in the complete opposite position she knew they would end up like this throughout the night. She mainly just didn’t want Waverly to see her cry herself to sleep.

Nicole barely got any sleep that night. She had been so hopeful that maybe she had had a shot with Waverly. That maybe Waverly really was kissing her because she wanted to. But just like everything else had been between them lately, it was fake. It was started to really eat at Nicole, the sudden lack of realness in their relationship. At least when they were just friends, they knew what they were to each other, to an extent. Now, now they were in a weird limbo that she wasn’t quite sure how to get out of. 

Waverly woke with a groan, doing her best to stretch out her limbs in the small space. She got a little bit of sleep that night, but not as much as she would have liked. She couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss, and how stupid it was. The kiss itself wasn’t, in fact, it was amazing. Incredible. Literally _breathtaking_. But the circumstances surrounding it? She really couldn’t catch a break, could she?

How could Nicole believe that it wasn’t real? That it was only just a cover? Was she just trying to convince herself that’s what it was because she was scared? Or was she trying to justify Waverly’s actions because she just didn’t see her as more than a friend and didn’t want things to get more complicated than they already were?

Waverly really thought she had been reading the signs right. She could have _swore_ that Nicole was into her too, not to mention everyone had been telling her that for the last week. But then, just when she thinks they might be getting somewhere, it’s like they just take two steps back. 

Waverly groaned again, trying to massage the muscles in her cramped neck and resting her forehead on Nicole’s shoulder below her. When she realized how close they were again she gasped in surprise, quickly looking up to meet the eyes of a sheepish looking redhead. 

“Nicole-”

“I’ll be right back,” Nicole interrupted, trying but failing to gracefully get out of the hammock with Waverly’s weight still in it. Waverly watched as she jogged to the nearby bathrooms and sighed. She was hoping to be able to explain herself and her actions from last night, but maybe that just wasn’t what Nicole wanted. Maybe she was just avoiding the conversation all together to save Waverly the embarrassment of rejection. 

Waverly got out of the hammock, a little more gracefully than Nicole, and walked towards Chrissy and Perry’s. She noticed that Perry was already beginning to pack up their stuff, and when she looked around saw Robin and Jeremy doing the same. 

“Shit, are we leaving already?” Waverly asked, realizing everyone was already practically done getting their stuff together and her and Nicole hadn’t even started. 

Chrissy looked at her and smirked. “Yeah, we let you two lovebirds sleep in.”

Waverly rolled her eyes and turned around to walk back over to her side. She normally didn’t mind her best friends teasing, but today already wasn’t the best day. 

The blonde noticed the shift in Waverly’s demeanor and grew concerned. “Wait, Waves, what’s wrong?” she asked, following her friend over to the other side. 

“Nothing Chris, I’m fine,” the shorter girl lied. She wasn’t sure if this was something she wanted to talk about at the moment when Nicole could be back any second. 

“You’re not fine,” Chrissy objected, looking around the area for Nicole. “Where’s Nicole?”

Waverly turned around to start picking up their things and put down the hammock, hoping to get everything done before Nicole got out so they could avoid the awkward interactions for today. “Bathroom,” she said shortly, rolling the hammock up to put in the carrying bag. 

Chrissy furrowed her brow and looked back towards Waverly. “Okay, you’re being super weird right now. What happened, you guys were fine last night?”

“Yeah, until I kissed her. Then all of a sudden it’s like she flipped a switch and got super standoffish,” Waverly huffed, grabbing an armful of their things and walking over towards the van where the group had congregated, including Nicole. 

“Woah woah woah, you did _what??_ ” Chrissy gasped, her jaw dropping as she stopped the brunette before they could get to the car. 

“Yeah, but now she’s acting all weird. She thought it was some kind of cover because Jeremy was apparently awake and chose that frickin time to walk over to us,” Waverly said frustratedly, running her free hand through her hair roughly. The more she thought about the situation the more aggravated she got. 

“Oh my God that girl’s an idiot…” Chrissy muttered exasperatedly. 

Waverly chuckled dryly, “Yeah, you’re tellin’ me.”

Waverly and Chrissy both began walking towards the car again, noticing that now everyone was standing around waiting for Waverly to put their things away. Waverly looked over at Nicole and made eye contact with her before the redhead quickly looked away, immediately blushing when she was caught staring at them. Waverly groaned, it was going to be a long trip back. 

“You know you need to tell her now, right? This isn’t going to get any better if you guys keep skirting around your feelings for each other,” Chrissy stated. “I mean come on, it’s not like it can get any worse right?”

Waverly sighed, knowing she had to end the conversation since they were approaching the rest of the group. “It could though. She could stop talking to me for good if everyone’s wrong and she really doesn’t feel the same way,” she said somberly.

Chrissy stepped in front of her again, effectively halting their movement. “Wave, look at you guys right now. Are you actually even talking? You guys can’t even make eye contact with each other,” she admitted sadly, telling the brunette the things she knew she didn’t want to hear but needed to. “She cares about you, she’s just scared. _You_ need to give her a reason not to be,” she said, softly poking a finger to Waverly’s chest. 

Waverly looked down and sighed. She knew Chrissy was right. They walked up to the car and put the things in the trunk, Waverly concentrating on the task the whole time. She didn’t notice the look of concern the redhead was giving her, but she didn’t need to know she had her eyes on her. She could feel them, like a weight of bricks on her chest. A weight she was going to remove when they got back to Jeremy’s house. 

\--------------------

Everyone packed out of the van when they pulled into Jeremy’s driveway, stretching their limbs dramatically when they each got out. The drive wasn’t super long, but after being stuck in a hammock all night Nicole’s limbs were on fire. She just hoped she could stretch them out better before playing in the game tonight. 

Waverly got out of the car and did the same before walking over to the back to grab her overnight bag. When she went to reach for it a hand brushed with hers, stopping her movements. 

“Oh, sorry,” her and Nicole both said simultaneously. They made eye contact and Nicole looked down at the ground and blushed, quickly reaching in again to grab her bag. “Sorry,” Nicole said again, pulling the straps around her arms.

“Don’t apologize, it’s fine,” Waverly replied quietly, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. “Look Nicole, I really need to talk to you,” she began.

Nicole shook her head vehemently, stopping Waverly before she could tell her last night was a mistake. Nicole wouldn’t be able to handle that. Not before her first game of the season, it would throw her off completely, and she needed to keep her head straight. “I really have to get ready for tonight,” she said softly, doing her best to look past the disappointment in the smaller girls eyes, but she couldn’t. 

Nicole sighed, giving into the brunette. Waverly went to look down before a finger caught her chin, much like the night before, and brought her face up to meet the redhead's gaze. 

“I have to get ready for tonight,” she repeated in the same tone, “but, maybe we can talk at the game?” the taller girl offered.

Waverly smiled up at her, her eyes crinkling at the corners. She saw a look in Waverly’s eyes that made her heart skip a beat. Hope. 

“Okay,” Waverly whispered. Nicole matched her smile, her dimples popping into the beaming grin that made Waverly melt. “Besides, I have to get ready too. Hammocks aren’t very comfortable so I should probably get a nap in before having to cheer on my favorite redhead,” Waverly teased cheekily. 

Nicole let out a genuine laugh at the silliness of the girl in front of her. It gave her hope too, that no matter what happened between them tonight, everything would be okay. Even if it did mean she had to find out the love of her life didn’t feel the same way about her. 

“Well then, in that case, I’ll see you tonight,” Nicole said, dropping her hand down and backing up to put some space between them. 

“Yeah,” Waverly breathed, “I’ll see you tonight varsity star,” she winked mischievously. 

Nicole laughed and shook her head, turning around to walk towards her car parked on the street. “Uh huh. Goodnight Waves,” she joked back playfully considering it was early afternoon. She looked over her shoulder to offer the brunette a wink back. 

Waverly smirked and blushed, looking down at her shoes before turning to walk towards her own car. Tonight was the night. She was going to tell Nicole how she felt. She couldn’t put it off any longer, and honestly, she wasn’t quite sure she even wanted to. She just hoped everyone was right. She just hoped Nicole felt the same way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this story is coming to an end soon, I’m definitely gonna miss it but I can’t wait for you all to see what’s next, trust me, you’ll want to be here for the next chapter I promise ;)  
> If you’d like to leave a comment or kudos please do, they make me so happy and would make the BEST Christmas present :D  
> Wanna talk on Twitter? Here’s my @!  
> @sydthekid41319


	9. Basketball and Misunderstandings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just wanted to say a quick thank you to anyone who has shown support on this story as well as on my new story with my friend @ddamaged_ ! It means a lot to us and watching every kudos and comments pop up makes our day.   
> That being said, this fic is almost over! This chapter is a lot, but it's a good lot, so strap in and enjoy ;)

Nicole pulled up to the school an hour before the game started. She always showed up a little earlier than she was supposed to in order to get any nerves out of the way. Once she stepped foot on that court, all of her worries melted away like magic. 

She stepped into the building, noticing that not many people had shown up yet. There were a few refs getting things in order, the coaches and assistants were standing towards the middle of the court talking, and the janitor was cleaning the bleachers in preparation for the big game. 

Purgatory always had their biggest games for the first and last ones. This game happened to be against their rival school, the Garden City Angels, so there was a decent amount of stress on her shoulders as team captain. She looked around some more and saw some people start to trickle in, noticing that she had been standing there in her thoughts for about 15 minutes, which meant warm ups started soon. 

She watched as some of the cheerleaders walked in, moving to set their stuff on the ground next to the front of the bleachers. She specifically saw Chrissy and Waverly walking next to each other, Waverly laughing freely at something the blonde must have said. They looked over and Nicole made eye contact with Waverly, offering the girl a soft smile and wave. The brunette waved back, sending her the same smile in return. She saw Chrissy nudge her with her elbow and whisper something to her, but all of her focus went out the window when she noticed someone walk in behind them. 

In a Garden City Angels basketball uniform, Shae Pressman, her old acquaintance from basketball summer camp, came walking into the gymnasium. Nicole’s breath stopped and all of the blood drained from her face. This couldn’t be happening. Not only did she still have to talk to Waverly tonight, but now she had to confront that issue too. 

Shae looked over and saw Nicole, a beaming smile crossing her face. Nicole paled more than she already had, if that were even possible. She was so out of it she missed the look of concern Waverly shot her from across the court. She immediately turned around, heading for the locker room to get some space and air. 

Waverly turned around to look at Chrissy, and the girl looked back with a similar look of confusion. “Maybe I shouldn’t do it right now, she’s obviously nervous. If she doesn’t feel the same way it’ll just make it worse,” Waverly reasoned.

Chrissy shook her head vehemently, putting her hands on Waverly’s shoulders and squeezing slightly. “Wave, if you don’t do it now you know you’ll just keep putting it off. Besides, she’s obviously more nervous about you than she is the game. You going down there will probably make her feel better!”

Waverly nodded her head, trying to hype herself up and take in the pep talk Chrissy was giving her. “You’re right,” she exhaled, “I’ve gotta do it now. I can do this. I’m gonna go down there now,” she told the other cheerleader and herself. 

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Chrissy exclaimed, patting the brunette’s shoulder and  
pushing her towards the doors. “Now go down there and get your girl!” Waverly giggled at her friend and made a light jog towards the doors to the locker room. 

Nicole was sat on the locker room benches, slowly calming down her heart rate and breathing. She heard the door open and quickly stood up, not expecting the face she saw walk in. 

“Hi,” the girl breathed, walking over towards the redhead.

“Shae,” Nicole addressed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She was a little defensive, but she felt like she had a good reason to be. 

“I, uh, I never thought I’d see you again,” Shae whispered, slowly making her way over to Nicole.

Nicole backed up to keep the space between them until her back hit the lockers and she couldn’t move anymore. “Yeah, same here,” she replied.

Shae pressed her body against Nicole’s and brought her hands up to her face. Before Nicole had the chance to say anything, Shae’s lips were on hers. It took her a minute to process what was happening. The kiss only lasted a second, Nicole pulled away instantly, but not fast enough. She heard a gasp from across the room, and it didn’t belong to either of the two girls. 

When she pulled away she looked up to meet Waverly’s eyes, already starting to fill with unshed tears. “Waverly…” Nicole pleaded.

Waverly shook her head repeatedly, crossing her arms and trying to keep her tears at bay. 

“It’s not what it looks like,” Nicole tried again, moving to walk towards the brunette. “Shae just-”

“Shae? Like the girl you kissed at camp Shae?” Waverly spit out, her anger bubbling to the surface. 

Nicole cringed, trying to figure out how things got so out of hand so quickly. Shae looked between the two girls in confusion. “Oh shit, Nicole I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had a- I’m just gonna go. I’m sorry,” Shae apologized as she continued to look between the two. She made her way past Waverly, casting her an apologetic glace before going up the stairs to the gym. 

“Waverly,” Nicole tried again, reaching out a hand for the brunette before deciding against it. 

“No, you don’t get to speak,” Waverly barked out, attempting to hide her hurt with anger instead. “You have every right to kiss who you want. We’re not dating, you don’t owe me anything. But, other people don’t know that. Anyone could have seen that, and what would that have looked like huh? I would have been the oblivious girl being cheated on right under her nose. _Literally._ ”

Nicole’s eyes softened. She could only feel pure regret for what had happened, even though she had no control over the situation. “I-”

“And you wanna know the worst part? The worst part, is that I was coming down here to-” Waverly cut herself off, huffing out tense breath. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

Nicole waited to make sure Waverly was done saying her piece. When the silence stretched out for longer than necessary, she finally piped up. “Waverly, Shae came onto me. She cornered me against the locker and kissed me, I didn’t- I wouldn’t- God, Waverly I would never cheat on you. Fake relationship or not,” she confessed, shocked by the last words that left her mouth. 

Waverly gasped, hanging onto the last four words. _‘Fake relationship or not’_. Before she could say anything, they heard the buzzer signal they had five minutes until the game started. Nicole had missed warmups, but she didn’t care. At this point she would miss the whole game if she had to. 

“We should go,” Waverly said, turning around to head towards the door. 

Nicole jogged after her, reaching out for her wrist to stop her. “Wait,” she whispered, “I don’t want to leave us like this.” She stared into Waverly’s eyes, pleading, but the brunette refused to meet her gaze. 

“Later,” Waverly replied shortly. “You’ve got a game, varsity star,” she chuckled dryly, but her fake smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. It made Nicole’s heart ache. All she wanted was to explain everything to her, but she knew she wouldn’t be listened to until they left. 

Waverly released her wrist from Nicole’s grasp, walking up the steps to the gym without looking back. Nicole stood there, staring at the doors Waverly just walked through. She did her best not to break down and cry. She knew it wouldn’t do her any good. But she’d be damned if she didn’t try to save the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Nicole ran up the stairs, looking around the gym frantically. She looked over at the bottom of the bleachers to the cheerleaders. She saw Rosita and Chrissy sitting on either side of a distraught looking Waverly. Her heart broke at the sight. She made eye contact with Chrissy who shot her a death glare. 

Nicole looked to the center of the gym, watching as both teams ran off of the court towards their sectioned benches. She walked towards the announcers booth, not caring about her coach and teammates calling out her name as she passed them. She couldn’t see the cheerleaders staring at her, she couldn’t see the families and students in the crowd with confusion clear on their faces. She could only see the mascot’s megaphone sitting upright on the table.

She grabbed it without a second thought, looking up at the time on the clock. Three and a half minutes. That was enough time. She made her way to the middle of the gym, everyone's eyes on her as she cleared her throat and turned on the megaphone. _‘Now or never right?’_ she thought.

There was a loud screeching sound as she turned on the device, but her voice came through clear as she spoke into it. “Waverly Earp.” She announced, looking over at the cheerleader who was staring at her with wide eyes. “I don’t know what else to say. I know that not a lot of things could make up for some of the things that have happened. I know you might never forgive me. But I need to get this off of my chest because I can’t take this anymore.”

She took another deep breath before continuing. “I love you. I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with you since the day I met you if we’re being honest with ourselves. Then we started- uh- dating…” she trailed off, not wanting to out their fake relationship but wanting Waverly to understand what she meant. 

“We started dating, and God, I have never been happier in my life.” Before Nicole could continue, the one minute buzzer sounded through the gym. “I- uh- yeah. I think everyone gets the gist, so. Yeah. Enjoy the game!” Nicole said over enthusiastically before running over to the benches and sitting down next to one of her teammates.

“Uh, what that hell was that Haught?” Her teammate, Eliza, asked from beside her. 

Nicole wasn’t paying any attention to her. She stayed still in her seat and watched the brunette carefully, her heart dropping when she wouldn’t even look at her. Waverly just continued to stare at the ground, Chrissy rubbing her shoulder sympathetically before all of the cheerleaders were forced to get up to start their routines for the beginning of the game.

So that was it. Waverly obviously didn’t have feelings for Nicole, it was written all over her face. Hell, she couldn’t even look at her, even after her grand gesture in front of the whole school. Nicole felt like she was going to have a panic attack, but before she had time to escape, the buzzer rang out signalling the first quarter. 

\--------------------

By the time halftime hit Purgatory was down 38-23, not impossible to come back from, but very difficult if they continued to play the way they had been. The problem wasn’t the team, however, it was their captain. 

Nicole couldn’t seem to get her head in the game. Every time she looked over and saw Waverly, everything came flooding back to her. All of the memories, all of the kisses, all of the mistakes. It was hard enough for her to even breathe let alone play.

Basketball was the thing Nicole turned to in order to help clear her mind and forget about her life. But now, standing in the middle of her team with her coach screaming at her, she couldn’t find it in her to care. All she could think about was Waverly a few feet away from her and how normally her cheering helped her game. But now? Now all it did was hurt. 

“Haught, goddammit now you listen to me kid. You’re my star player, but right now you’re not even playing like you belong on a fourth grade team. Whatever public display of love you had going on at the beginning of this game, walk it off during this break, and get your ass on that court and play or else you’re getting benched. Got it?” Coach Ewan yelled from the huddle.

Nicole just nodded dumbly, staring out onto the court where the cheerleaders were getting ready to start their halftime routine. Nicole looked over at Waverly, finally making eye contact with the girl for the first time since the start of the game. 

Waverly sighed, rolling her eyes at the redhead before storming over to her standing by the bench. She didn’t have much time before her performance, but she couldn’t take it anymore. 

Nicole’s eyes widened in fear as she watched the brunette charge up to her, preparing to get screamed at for her public display and terrible performance. However, she wasn’t prepared for the small cheerleader to wrap both hands around the back of her neck and tug her forward, causing their lips to meet in a rough and bruising kiss. 

Nicole’s eyes slammed shut as she kissed Waverly back with equal intensity, her hands instantly falling to the girl's waist and tugging her into her body. Before she had the opportunity to deepen the kiss, Waverly moved her hands to the front of Nicole’s chest and pushed lightly, causing them to break apart. 

They leaned their foreheads together, both panting heavily against each other's lips but refusing to pull away any farther. “Talk later, play now,” Waverly breathed out. She smiled up at the redhead, quickly leaning forward to place a short kiss on the other girls lips again. “I love you too. Now go kick their ass please,” she smirked. 

Nicole beamed, nodding her head enthusiastically as she pulled Waverly in one last time for another kiss, this one lasting a little bit longer than the previous. When Waverly pulled away, Nicole chased after her lips, earning a soft giggle from the brunette as she backed away. 

Nicole continued to stand there, staring at the girl as she walked back over to her squad. She wouldn’t be able to wipe the smile off her face even if she had wanted to. 

“Well shit. That’s one way to change your mood,” her teammate teased, walking up from behind her and smacking her on the back as she passed. 

Nicole just kept smiling even though her friend was making fun of her. “Shut it, Shapiro, or I’ll ask coach if we can do suicides next practice.”

Eliza whipped around, squinting at the redhead. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Nicole smirked, “Watch me,” she winked, before running over to the coach to tell him that she was ready to play for the second half and she was going to do better. Eliza just watched from the sidelines and laughed, running back over to gather the rest of the team in a huddle before the third quarter. 

\--------------------

Not only did Nicole’s mood drastically change, but so did her playing. By the end of the third quarter they were already at 44-39. Now, with a minute left until the end of the fourth, they were down by two. They just need one shot to secure a tie, or a three-pointer to win the game. 

Nicole dribbled down the court, watching as her team settled into their positions. Shae, her defender, got up close to her, smirking as Nicole continued her dribble without making an effort to move. She surveyed her options. She had 28 seconds left on the clock. 

She swung the ball around to the left wing, running around to the bottom of the court to the free throw line where her teammate switched spots with her, effectively keeping their drill intact. The ball got passed back to the top, then swung over to the right side to Nicole. It was a man to man defense, and with Nicole being just a little bit faster than Shae she was quickly able to get the ball and side step her, using her momentum against her as she shot from the three point line. 

The gymnasium went silent, watching as the ball flew through the air with six seconds left on the clock. The ball swished through the net, making the score 48-49 with four seconds until the final buzzer. 

The Angels quickly threw the ball inbound, one of their players chucking the ball against the goal only for it to bounce off the backboard and miss. The buzzer sounded through the gym; the collective screams and cheers of the Purgatory High Devils students ringing out. All of Nicole’s teammates ran up to her, clapping her on the back and tackling her into hugs. 

She watched Eliza smirk before grabbing both of her shoulders and turning her around, bringing the redhead face to face with Waverly running over to her. Nicole beamed, bracing for the impact as Waverly crashed into her arms. She lifted the smaller girl up, spinning her around a few times before dropping her back down to the ground. 

Waverly smiled giddily back up at the redhead and pulled her down into a searing kiss. Nicole wrapped her arms around the girl’s waist, trying her best to tame her smile. The kiss was messy, their teeth clacking together every now and then because they couldn’t stop smiling.

Nicole was the first to pull back, but she kept her arms tightly around the brunettes middle. She sighed in contentment, feeling the younger girl tuck her head into the crook of her neck. “Wow,” Waverly sighed, puffing air onto Nicole’s skin causing the redhead to shiver. 

“Yeah,” Nicole breathed. She was struggling at forming words after the events that had taken place in only an hour. “Can I give you a ride home?”

Waverly sighed again, bringing her arms up to wrap around the taller girl’s neck. She pulled back to look her in the eye, shaking her head slightly. “I’m sorry, I rode here with Chrissy. I’m not sure if-”

“Waverly Earp, you know exactly why I insisted on bringing you here instead of having you drive. I have plans with Perry, you have plans with a hot redhead,” Chrissy yelled over to them from the sidelines. 

Nicole laughed, nudging Waverly’s forehead with her nose. “You hear that? It sounds like we already had plans,” she teased. 

Waverly chuckled, unwrapping her arms from Nicole’s neck and walking over to the bleachers to grab her things. “God, that sneaky little…” she smirked, looking back over at Nicole who was smiling a few feet away. “I’ll thank her later,” she winked, grabbing the basketball player's hand and dragging her out of the gym and towards the truck. Nicole could grab all of her things from the locker room Monday. Besides, she looked sexy as hell in her uniform anyways.

The car ride back to the homestead was surprisingly silent. Nicole had reached over on instinct to grab Waverly’s hand, which the girl accepted immediately. Besides the occasional thumb brushing Nicole’s fingers, Waverly didn’t move at all. Neither did Nicole. They just rode back listening to the quiet hum of the radio in the background. 

When they pulled into the driveway, Nicole parked her truck and turned to face the brunette. Waverly looked over at her, still holding onto her hand, and smiled shyly. “Hi,” she whispered. 

Nicole smiled back, adored by how the cheerleader could go from brave and bold to shy and timid in only the course of a car ride. “Hey there,” the redhead replied back.

Waverly ducked her head down and smirked, trying to decide what her next move should be. She unclipped her seatbelt before giving the taller girl a mischievous look. Nicole looked back in curiosity, her brow furrowed as she tried to decipher what Waverly was doing. Was she leaving already? They still had to talk about everything. 

Before Nicole could really process what was happening, Waverly slid across the bench seat and swung her legs over to the driver’s side, effectively straddling Nicole. She sat there, lightly breathing a few inches above the redhead’s mouth, giving her the opportunity to back away if she wanted to. 

Under normal circumstances, Nicole wouldn’t have backed away. In fact, she probably would have been the one to make the first move. But they still had things to discuss. “Wave, I- as much as I want to continue where we left off earlier, I think we have a lot to talk about,” Nicole breathed. 

Waverly nodded, leaning back a little bit to create some space between them. “Right. Right, let’s talk.”

Nicole took a deep breath, reaching out for both of Waverly’s hands and squeezing. She couldn’t figure out why this felt so hard. They had already gotten through the worst of this process, hell, she basically just told her feelings to the entire school. But this? This felt a lot more intimate and real. 

“We kissed. In Stephanie Jones’s basement and I- I remember kicking myself because, I never should have agreed to that dare,” Nicole admitted. 

Waverly looked at her, trying to keep the hurt out of her eyes at that statement. Before she could interject, Nicole continued. “I never should have agreed to that dare, because what kind of idiot agrees to kiss their crush and thinks that nothing is going to change afterwards?”

Waverly felt the hint of a smile start to grace her lips. Okay, maybe this wasn’t completely terrible, Nicole just needed to get a lot better with her words. “I think I can get what you mean there, yeah,” Waverly whispered, looking down between them at their joined hands.

Nicole nodded, “And then after, when you ran away, I thought it was me. I thought you were running because you regretted it. Then later we were in your bed and I was trying to comfort you and I realized that I was in so much deeper than I had originally thought I was, and it was fucking terrifying.”

Waverly looked up, and felt her heart flip at the expression on Nicole’s face. The look of pure love and care for her made her swoon all over again. “You kept calling us friends, and I was so disappointed,” she joked. 

Nicole laughed, moving forward to lean her head against Waverly’s forehead. “I was scared. I didn’t want to lose you. And then I agreed to fake date you like some cheesy Hallmark movie, thinking that was going to end well,” Nicole scoffed, causing Waverly to giggle. 

“Well, it did kind of end well, right?” Waverly smirked, moving her hands away from Nicole’s to loop them around the girl’s neck. 

Nicole smiled, “Yeah, I guess it did,” she whispered, desperately wanting to close the space between them until another thought hit her. “Oh, shit, wait, the whole Shae thing, Waverly I-”

Waverly cut Nicole off by pressing her lips against hers in a long, chaste kiss. She pulled back slowly, shaking her head while keeping her eyes closed and returning her forehead to rest against the redheads. “No,” the small girl whispered, “There’s nothing to explain. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. It’s just… I was finally going to tell you how I felt,” she chortled. She opened her eyes to look at Nicole, watching as a look of shock overtook her features. “Then I saw her kissing you… and I jumped to conclusions and closed myself off. Especially after your reaction to me kissing you last night, I just freaked out.”

Nicole was stunned. Waverly was going to the locker room to tell her how she felt. She was jealous of the kiss with Shae and that’s why she reacted the way she did. But most importantly… “Last night… was real?” Nicole whispered in awe, finally putting the pieces together.

Waverly smiled wide, playing with the hairs at the nape of the other girl’s neck. “Yeah,” she laughed. “God, do you know how hard it’s been not to do that _all_ the time? I’ve almost jumped your bones so many times I’ve lost count.”

Nicole smirked, gripping the smaller girls waist before tugging their bodies flush together in the seat. “Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea, yeah,” she breathed out, leaning in closer to barely graze their lips together teasingly.

Waverly leaned forward a little more but Nicole pulled back, smirking at the whine that escaped from the brunette’s throat. She lunged forward, sealing their lips together in the most passionate kiss either of them had ever experienced. 

Waverly let out a throaty moan, swiping her tongue against Nicole’s lower lip begging for access. Nicole granted it almost instantly, meeting the girl’s tongue with her own. After a few minutes of making out, Nicole could feel herself getting more worked up than she ever had in her life. Kissing Waverly wasn’t enough anymore.

She moved her lips to the smaller girl's jaw, traveling down it slowly. Waverly gasped, gripping the short red hair between her fingers tighter at the sensation. She had never felt anything like this before, especially not when she was with Champ. They weren’t together long, and past a few make out sessions she never really let things progress. 

But this? God, this was electrifying. Every move of Nicole’s lips sent a fire roaring deep within her. She could feel the coil of arousal deep and low in her stomach, and all she wanted was to feel those lips on _other_ parts of her body. She knew neither of them were ready for that yet, but she still couldn’t get past the ravenous hunger to feel more of Nicole everywhere.

Nicole made her way up to Waverly’s ear, pulling the lobe between her teeth before sucking it gently into her mouth. Waverly gasped, involuntarily grinding down onto Nicole’s lap. Waverly shivered at the feeling, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as Nicole moved down her neck, licking and sucking on the sensitive spots she found.

Nicole slowly moved her hands up Waverly’s ribs, dragging the tight ‘blue devils’ cheer uniform up with her movements. She paused once she reached the undersides of the girl’s sports bra, not wanting to overstep any boundaries. All of this was new to her, new to both of them, and the last thing she wanted was for Waverly to feel like she had to do anything she didn’t want to.

Before she could move back to check and make sure Waverly was doing okay, Waverly pulled away slightly, reaching down to lift the uniform shirt of her body. Nicole sat shocked, staring at the girl in nothing but a short skirt and a sport bra. She tried wrapping her brain around the events of the day, just thinking about how far they had come since last night, and she couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t fathom the fact that this was all happening right now, and this was all very, very real to both of them. 

Waverly giggled at the awestruck look on Nicole’s face. She couldn’t help it, it was kind of adorable. Nicole looked up from the girl’s chest, which she was most certainly not staring at, and frowned. “What’s so funny?”

Waverly laughed again, moving her hands to twist in the fabric covering Nicole’s stomach. “You know you’ve seen me in a sports bra before, right?” she clarified, quirking an eyebrow.

Nicole smirked, returning her hands to the skin of Waverly’s bare ribs and feeling goosebumps rise at the touch. She leaned forward to return her lips to the brunette's neck, smiling against the skin when she not only heard but felt the girl’s pulse quicken. “Mhmm,” she hummed, “but none of those times involved you falling apart on my lap now did they? This is a little different.” She sucked on the skin of her pulsepoint, definitely leaving a bruise from her ministrations although she couldn’t find it in herself to care. Not when Waverly was writhing underneath her hands the way she was now. And based on Waverly’s reaction, the thought of a hickey on her neck for anyone to see turned her on even more.

Waverly ran her fingers through red tresses, pulling Nicole’s face up to crash their lips together. After a heated and practically filthy kiss, the brunette pulled away, placing a hand on the taller girl’s chest to keep her from chasing after her.

“As much as I wish we could continue this, I really need to get inside before Wynonna comes out here and finds us like this,” she said apologetically. She wanted nothing more than for Nicole to pick her up and lie her down on this bench seat, hovering above her while she- nope. Those thoughts weren’t going to help her right now, that’s for sure. 

Nicole grinned. Although she was a little upset that her time with Waverly was over for the night, she knew they were just getting started in the long run, and that was enough to hold her over until tomorrow. “It’s okay beautiful,” she whispered, leaning in to give Waverly a peck on her lips. “I can always come see you tomorrow?”

Waverly smirked, a mischievous gleam in her eye. “Orrrrr,” she dragged out, fisting Nicole’s shirt in her hand and pulling her closer, their lips almost touching teasingly. “You could just stay the night,” she breathed, pulling Nicole’s bottom lip between her teeth and releasing it gently. 

Nicole shivered, slowly shaking her head as she regained her bearings. God, Waverly Earp was for sure going to be the death of her. “I can’t. As much as I would love to, if I go in there with you right now I don’t think I’ll be able to resist you much longer,” she admitted shyly.

Waverly smiled, her eyes twinkling in mirth. “Would that be such a bad thing?” she asked coyly, brushing Nicole’s lips seductively with her index finger.

“I- _God,_ ” Nicole groaned, her head lolling back against the headrest with a small thud. “Waverly, I want to do this right. And if I go in there, with you, we’re not going to sleep and I don’t want to rush things between us no matter how much my body doesn’t want to stop,” Nicole rambled, her eyes slamming shut as she breathed heavily.

Waverly nodded, a small smile gracing her lips. “Okay,” she whispered, using the index finger that was previously on the redheads lips to move the girl’s chin down, forcing her to open her eyes and look at Waverly. “Believe me, I _completely_ understand what you mean there. And I agree. Just after everything that’s happened I really don’t want to be away from you right now.”

Nicole’s eyes softened, her dimple popping slightly from her smile. “I know baby. I’ll be over first thing in the morning, okay?” she asked, placing a soft kiss to the brunette’s jaw.

“Okay,” Waverly giggled, reaching over to the passengers seat to grab her uniform shirt and pull it over her head. Nicole sighed dramatically once her torso was covered, causing Waverly to laugh louder and slap her chest playfully. “Dork!”

Nicole smirked, opening the drivers side door but still remaining seated. “But I’m your dork,” Nicole spoke with a lopsided grin.

Waverly shook her head, sliding off of Nicole’s lap to get out of the truck. Nicole went to get up to follow before the smaller girl pushed her back down to sit. “Nicole Haught, we both know what’s going to happen if you walk me to the door so don’t even think about getting out of this car.” Waverly shot her a playful wink before turning around and heading towards the house.

“Goodnight!” Nicole yelled with a smile before reaching over to close her door. Waverly turned and smiled back, sending her a shy wave. Neither girl could wipe the smile off their face. Honestly, neither of them would want to. They were finally at the start of the thing they had been wanting the most. They could finally, truthfully, call the other their girlfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. Well, we finally made it lol. Sorry if that seemed dragged out at all, I just had so much I wanted to add to this story and I wanted to try to make it all fit! There's one more chapter after this, maybe I'll be able to bring these characters back in the future or for a couple of one shots!  
> Leave comments and kudos if you enjoyed! I'd love to know what y'all thought :)  
> Here's my twitter if anyone wants to talk!  
> @sydthekid41319


	10. Did Someone Say 'Big Gay Dinner'?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This is it, this is the end of this story! It's a little emotional for me, not gonna lie. This story didn't start out as a fanfic. In fact, I wrote the first two chapters of this story way before I had even delved into fanfic writing. It was originally supposed to be about a girl who like her friend, was dared to kiss her, was confronted with the emotions of that kiss, but knew nothing could even come from it because the other girl was straight. It was originally meant to be a pretty sad story, and it was based off of some feelings I was having at the time. Now, it's a story with a happy ending, and twists that even I didn't see coming, and to me that has really changed the way I look at things and has given me hope.   
> Thank you to everyone that has kept with this story, and thank you to everyone who has commented or liked or shown love to it and my writing. It will forever mean the world to me, and it's the main reason I'm still here busting out stories.   
> There may be oneshots of this fic in the future, because I definitely don't want to let these characters go ;)  
> As always, enjoy your Wayhaught :)

_“Babeeeee,”_ Waverly pleaded from her spot on the bed. She was laying on her back in the middle of the bed while Nicole stood in the doorway of the bathroom drying her hair with a towel. Fuck the rain.

Nicole smirked back at her adorable girlfriend, leaning back into the bathroom to throw the towel onto the sink. She walked back out into the bedroom and stood hovering over the bed, crossing her arms over her chest and quirking an eyebrow down at the smaller girl. 

Waverly looked up at her with a pout, putting on her best ‘you know you can’t say no to me’ look. “No no, Waverly Earp, don’t you dare give me that look,” Nicole replied sternly, trying her best to appear annoyed. It wasn’t working. Especially not when Waverly’s hair was splayed out on the pillow, framing her face like a golden brown halo. Not when Waverly’s sparkling hazel eyes were piercing into her own with a look of mischief. 

It had been almost a week since Nicole’s grand confession at her basketball game, which easily made it one of the best weeks of both of their lives. They came clean to all of their friends that Monday at lunch. Everyone just laughed, saying that they all could tell the couple liked each other and they couldn’t believe the two of them couldn’t see it.

Nicole was brought back from her thoughts when she felt Waverly’s hands smooth over her shoulders, a playful look on her face. Waverly was now kneeling on the bed in front of her, their faces millimeters apart. Nicole could feel the brunette’s breath against her lips and her heart stopped. After a week of things progressing between them, she wondered if her body would ever acclimate to Waverly’s touch and proximity, or if she was always going to be this useless around the girl. She had a feeling the latter would be the case. 

“Waves,” Nicole breathed. She slowly wrapped her arms around the shorter girl’s waist, bringing their bodies closer together. With Nicole standing at the edge of the bed and Waverly kneeling on it, they were about the same height. 

Waverly brought her hands to the taller girl’s neck, lightly playing with the short red hairs at the nape. “You know Jeremy has been looking forward to having a big dinner with the four of us, we have to go.”

Nicole sighed, tightening her arms around Waverly’s waist and resting their foreheads together. “I knowwww,” she whined. “I guess I just really want you to myself tomorrow. I mean, since last Saturday we weren’t actually together I was hoping we could have our first official date.”

Waverly smiled at the sentiment. Leave it to Nicole to find a way to be a softie during a conversation like this. “And as much as I would love that, it’s just a few hours. We can spend the rest of the night together,” the brunette compromised, placing a quick peck to the other girl’s lips. 

Nicole hummed against Waverly’s lips, finally conceding in their ‘argument’. She knew they were going to end up going to dinner. She wasn’t really going to say no to Waverly. She wasn’t even sure she could if she wanted to. 

Nicole went to pull away from Waverly when she felt the hold around her neck get firmer, pulling her more into the brunette. She smirked as their lips collided again, more forceful than the one before. She wasn’t going to complain. She leaned forward causing Waverly to move until she was lying on her back. Nicole followed the movement until she was on top of Waverly in the middle of the bed, never breaking away from their kiss. Oh yeah, she definitely wasn’t going to complain at all. 

\--------------------

By the time Nicole got home that night it was around 11:30pm. She snuck in through her window to try to make the least amount of noise possible, knowing her mom had to get up early for work even though it was a Saturday. Waverly tried to convince her to spend the night, but Nicole was still a little skeptical. They had done things. A _lot_ of things. But they hadn’t quite taken _that_ step yet.

It’s not that she didn’t want to. _God_ did she want to. And she had a feeling Waverly did too. They just hadn’t really found the right time. She had a feeling it would happen soon though considering where they were at now, and just the thought made her clench her thighs. 

When Nicole finally got settled in bed, she heard her phone chime on the bedside table. She rolled over and grabbed it, blinking a few times at the sudden light in front of her face. _1 new message from Future Wife <3_. She smiled at the icon and unlocked her phone, reading the newest message from her girlfriend.

_Future Wife <3: You know, I know you said you shouldn’t spend the night tonight, but I still disagree ;)_

Nicole snorted at the text, shaking her head and biting her lip as she typed her reply.

_Nicole: Oh yeah? And why’s that baby?_

_Future Wife <3: Because…_

_Nicole: Waverly…_

_Future Wife <3: Ugh, fine…….._

_Future Wife <3: I’m cold and want my bonus blanket :(_

Nicole let out a loud laugh at that before quickly chastising herself for her volume level. She shot back a text to her absolutely _adorable_ girlfriend.

_Nicole: I-_

_Nicole: You could always just go get an extra blanket from the chest at the edge of your bed…_

_Future Wife <3: Orrrrrr, no <3_

Nicole bit her lip to keep in her chuckle. She almost didn’t want to tell Waverly no, and she was a little too close for comfort to saying fuck it and going over to cuddle her girlfriend. Before Nicole could send a text back, her phone buzzed again.

_Future Wife <3: Plus, if you get me warm enough, I might just need to start taking layers off… ;)_

Yeah, that was it. Nicole jumped out of bed and grabbed her things while hopping on one foot as she struggled to get her shoes on. Fuck restraint, she was cuddling with her goddamn girlfriend tonight! She could keep it in her pants for a night. Just because she was spending the night with Waverly didn’t mean they were going to do anything. She could do this. Maybe. 

Waverly was lying in bed in her nest of blankets. It was absolutely freezing in her room, and cocooning wasn’t helping her. She felt her phone buzz next to her on the bed and smiled at the notification on her lock screen. 

_Best baby <3: I’m on my way._

Waverly smirked to herself. She knew that tease would do the trick. She quickly typed out her reply before burrowing herself further into her blanket burrito. 

_Waverly: Love youuuuuu <3_

A little while later Waverly looked up at the sound of her bedroom door creaking open. She gave the redhead a sheepish smile as she sat in her nest. Nicole snorted.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she laughed.

Waverly faked offense. “Hey! Excuse you, I wasn’t kidding I’m cold!”

Nicole shook her head in disbelief. God, everything the smaller girl did made her heart skip a beat. She walked over to the bed and looked down at the pouting brunette. “Well, are you going to let me in that fortress or what?”

Waverly smirked as she opened her arms, effectively opening a space in the blankets around her. “Was that supposed to be a double entendre? Haught, you dog,” she teased.

Nicole got into the blankets and looked at her girlfriend with a furrowed brow. A double entendre? How could her comment about entering her fortress- _Oh My God._ Nicole’s eyes widened, her jaw dropping as she watched Waverly double over in unashamed laughter. 

“ _Waverly Earp!_ What has gotten into you?!” Nicole gasped, completely taken aback by the girl’s boldness, but laughing with her regardless. 

Waverly shrugged, trying to hold back her smile at her next joke. “Obviously not _you._ ”

Nicole choked on air, her eyes finding a way to widen more, if that were even possible. “Oh my God, I did not sign up for this. I can still go home,” Nicole said in faux annoyance, moving slightly as if to indicate she was going to leave. 

Waverly quickly sprung into action, securing both of her arms around the taller girl and pulling her into her front. “Don’t you fucking dare,” Waverly spoke, her voice muffled in the fabric of the back of Nicole’s shirt. She could feel Nicole’s laugh vibrate through her body and she took comfort in it.

“Someone’s feisty tonight,” Nicole joked, turning over to tuck Waverly’s head under her chin and wrap her arms around the girl’s small torso. “I love it,” she whispered, placing a kiss to the crown of her head. 

“Mhmm. Go to bed,” Waverly mumbled, already half asleep in the comfort and warmth of her girlfriend’s arms. She was exhausted.

Nicole chuckled, rubbing soothing circles on her back. “Yes ma’am,” she breathed into caramel hair. She felt herself slowly drift off into the best sleep she had probably had in her whole life. 

\--------------------

Nicole woke the next morning to the feeling of lips moving against her jaw. She hummed in contentment, slowly feeling herself becoming aroused despite the early hour. She cracked one eye open, adjusting to the light pouring through the room. 

She tightened the arm around the brunette’s waist, feeling her chuckle lowly against her jawline. “Good morning baby,” Waverly husked, trailing her lips down the redhead’s jaw towards her ear. 

“Oh, it’s good alright,” Nicole mumbled, her eyes rolling into the back of her head when she felt Waverly take her earlobe between her teeth and pull lightly. Nicole moaned, bringing her hands up to the base of the smaller girl’s skull to bring their mouth together. 

Waverly dodged quickly though, causing Nicole to only catch her cheek. Nicole let out a groan of frustration from the back of her throat. Of course she was going to play hard to get. “Morning breath,” Waverly whispered playfully, pulling away from her slightly and letting their noses brush.

Nicole rolled her eyes jokingly. “You started it.”

Waverly looked back at her, a smirk playing at her lips. “I know,” she grinned, running her hands up under the redhead’s shirt against her bare skin. Nicole inhaled sharply at the contact, Waverly’s cold hands a stark contrast to her warm body. 

Nicole leaned forward again in an attempt to capture the girl’s lips. She expected her to tease, to pull away with her lip between her teeth and a twinkle in her eye. Instead, Waverly surged forward, fusing their lips together in a quickly heated kiss. 

Their tongues met immediately, the suddenness and roughness surprising Nicole. She wrapped her arms tightly around Waverly’s lithe body, pulling her tightly against her as they moaned into each other's mouth. 

Nicole moved her hands slowly up Waverly’s body, savouring the feeling of the smooth, tan skin underneath her hands. Waverly pushed her body against her, gasping at the feeling. Waverly’s hands moved higher, lightly caressing the underside of Nicole’s breast. 

Nicole was just about to pull back, to ask if it was okay to continue with things, to go farther than they had ever gone, right before the bedroom door swung open.

“Hey babygirl, I’m gonna head to the store, do you need- oh mother fucker!” Wynonna exclaimed, quickly turning around on her heels and throwing her hand over her eyes. Nicole scrambled out from under Waverly, pulling her shirt down and watching as the brunette copied her movements on herself. They both turned towards the older Earp, kneeling on the bed beside each other. They were both startled and breathing heavily.

“Ahh, Wynonna,” Waverly whispered in shock. “Hi…” she said abashedly, looking down at the floor.

“God, I almost prefered when this was fake. Less… walking in on _this_ shit,” Wynonna responded, motioning a bunch of crude hand gestures that didn’t really make much sense together. 

Nicole quirked an eyebrow, trying to decipher half of the hand signals Wynonna just made, completely ignoring the awkwardness in the air. She was pretty sure there were at least scissors in there, so there was that…

“What did you need?” Waverly asked, trying to clear the uncomfortable tension in the room.

Wynonna leaned against the doorframe. “I was going to ask if you wanted anything from the store for dinner tonight, but, uh, looks like you were about to eat something else,” she smirked.

Nicole choked on air. Well, she was engaged in the conversation now. Waverly’s face turned a shade of red that could rival Nicole’s hair. “I- We weren’t- I wasn’t-” Waverly stuttered. Wynonna just laughed and left the room, shutting it loudly behind her. Her cackling could be heard from down the hall. 

Nicole balked, completely taken aback by the turn of events. What. Just. Happened? “Uhh,” Nicole started.

“I’m sorry,” Waverly quickly interrupted, turning fully towards Nicole. “I just- I talked to Wynonna the other day about how we really hadn’t done much, like, sex stuff, but how I really wanted to and didn’t know how to bring it up to you or when would be a good time and of course she can’t keep her mouth shut so-”

Nicole surged forward, grabbing the back of Waverly’s neck to cut off the smaller girl’s rambling with a kiss. Waverly sighed against her mouth, placing her hands on the redhead’s chest lightly. They both pulled away simultaneously, resting their foreheads together. “Baby, breathe,” Nicole whispered.

Waverly let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, the air tickling Nicole’s lips. “It’s just, I know you’ve never been in a relationship or anything before, so I don’t want to rush you or anything. And I’ve never been with a girl before, so all of this is new to me too. The last thing I want to do is rush you or make you uncomfortable, but I also wanted you to know that I’m ready. For that. Sex. With you.”

Nicole paused for a moment, admiring her adorable and flustered girlfriend. God, she was so lucky. She brought her finger up to the girl’s chin, tilting it up so she could look her more fully in the eye. “I’ve been ready too. I just didn’t know how to bring it up, and I was worried about how you would react since we’ve only really been together for a week. Technically,” she winked. 

Waverly giggled lightly, bringing her arms to wrap around Nicole’s neck. “Well that is _excellent_ news,” the brunette rasped, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. Nicole’s eyes followed the movement, her eyes growing darker in arousal. 

“I-” Nicole started, enraptured by the girl in front of her and the mischief in her eyes. 

“But…” Waverly whispered, bringing their lips centimeters apart and smirking. “We probably shouldn’t do anything about that right now. We still have the dinner to get ready for tonight.” Waverly pulled away, untangling her arms from around Nicole’s neck and moving off the bed.

Nicole sat there, awestruck and frozen. _What the actual fuck?_ She breathed out a laugh, her eyes following Waverly as she moved around the room. She shook her head slowly, rising off of the bed to go after the girl. She was going to be the death of her

\--------------------

Right as the couple was getting ready to head out the door to drive to Robin’s house, Jeremy called to inform them that Robin’s parents had decided to stay in for the night, so they couldn’t hold the “Big Gay Dinner” there. After Jeremy very nervously asked if they could move the venue to the Homestead, Waverly had asked Wynonna if she could make herself scarce for the night. 

Of course Wynonna had mumbled something about going to Shorty’s and how she better get the best sister of the year award, but Waverly knew she wasn’t upset about it. The only issue is, Jeremy and Robin discovered this bump in the plan before they had a chance to make dinner. Meaning Waverly and Nicole were now elbow deep in the kitchen trying to pull something together. 

“Thank God your sister was still at the store when Jeremy called you,” Nicole spoke as she rummaged through the fridge for the ingredients she was looking for. 

“Right? Otherwise this could have ended very badly,” Waverly agreed. She was currently sitting on top of the counter, swinging her legs back and forth as she watched Nicole bent down in the refrigerator. She most certainly wasn’t staring at her ass. No sir. 

Nicole stood up, her arms full of basic ingredients as she turned towards the counter to set them down. Waverly looked away quickly, pretending to be far off in thought. Nicole was a little too quick for her though and saw the whole thing. She squinted her eyes at the younger girl. “Were you just staring at my ass?”

Waverly shook her head fervently, refusing to look her girlfriend in the eye. “No no, of course not. I would never.”

Nicole continued to look at the tiny blushing figure seated on the counter. “Because you know that’s like, extremely objectifying, right?” Nicole probed, trying her best to keep a straight face as she teased the brunette. 

Waverly changed the motion of her head movements, going from side to side to up and down. “Yeah, for sure. _Super_ objectifying. It would just be rude.”

Nicole smirked, catching the girl’s jaw with her finger to bring them eye to eye. With Waverly sitting on the counter they were almost the same height. Nicole brought the tips of their noses together, close enough so she could whisper but still be heard clearly. “Good. Maybe I want to be objectified,” she flirted, biting her lip and winking at Waverly before pulling away to resume her task. 

Waverly scoffed, completely taken aback at Nicole’s blatant tease. “God, you suck,” she chortled, jumping off the counter to lean against the table behind the redhead. 

Nicole laughed openly, grabbing the vegetables next to her to begin chopping them up on the cutting board. “I know, I’m just so awful. Now, any chance you can help me get the soup ready? Robin said something about wanting potatoes in it so I've gotta prep it.”

Waverly walked up beside her, grabbing the broth and things needed to take over to the pot she had pulled out earlier. “Potatoes? In this? Weird, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone doing that before.”

Nicole shrugged, “Me neither, but if he likes it, might as well try it.”

Waverly nodded in agreement, putting all of the ingredients she needed in the pot and setting it to a boil. 

About 20 minutes later Waverly had everything in the soup and it looked to be about done. She grabbed the spoon from the countertop and stirred, collecting some of it to taste. She walked over to Nicole, who was putting together the pie for dessert. “Here, taste,” she instructed, bringing the spoon up to Nicole’s lips.

Nicole closed her mouth around the spoon, taking in the soup and swallowing. She did her best to school her features. It wasn’t the best, but she didn’t want to crush Waverly. After all, Nicole was used to cooking considering her parents never really did it for her, meaning she had to learn from a young age. Waverly on the other hand had Wynonna, who surprisingly didn’t mind doing it from time to time.

Waverly looked up at Nicole hopefully. “So? What do you think?”

Nicole nodded her head, refusing to look at the brunette and give herself away. “It’s not bad,” she offered, focusing extra hard on the dough for the pie in front of her. 

Waverly looked at her skeptically, noticing as Nicole’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. That was her tell. “The truth,” Waverly probed, attempting to get Nicole to look at her.

Nicole looked up from the counter, not meeting the smaller girl’s eyes as she searched for the right words to say. “I- Waves,” she laughed, doing her best not to offend her girlfriend. “It’s terrible,” she chuckled, returning to the flour and dough before her. 

Waverly nodded her head, a small smirk playing on her lips as she watched Nicole laugh to herself. “Ahh, well…” Waverly started, continuing to nod her head as she walked over to the table behind them. Nicole laughed more openly at Waverly’s reaction, more confident now that she could see the other girl wasn’t mad. “Don’t be shy, tell me how you really feel,” Waverly joked, eyeing the table and the contents on it. 

Nicole kept kneading the dough but continued to smile at the situation at hand. “Oh, I will,” she chortled.

Waverly looked down at the table, noticing the glasses of water that were placed there and smirked at the idea that came to her head. She picked it up and quietly walked over to Nicole, coming up from behind. She snaked one arm around the taller girl's shoulders, the arm that wasn't holding the glass of course. She breathed against Nicole’s neck, taking note of the goosebumps that rose there. She felt Nicole shiver under her touch. Good. 

She kissed the side of the redhead’s neck, near the hollow of her throat and watched as Nicole’s head fell to the side subtly. She nipped at the skin there, earning her a small gasp. When Nicole was too preoccupied to notice, Waverly quickly splashed the water from the cup in Nicole’s face.

Nicole sputtered, completely caught off guard from the turn of events. She looked over, watching as Waverly snorted out a laugh in her face mockingly. Waverly turned around, heading back to the table to set the glass back down in it’s spot. She could refill it later. 

Nicole turned after her, walking towards the smaller girl. “Now what exactly was that for?” she questioned, quirking her brow at her girlfriend.

Waverly turned around nonchalantly, as if nothing had even happened, and shrugged casually. “Looked like you could have used a little cooling off,” she smirked. She turned back around, busying herself with setting the table more. 

Nicole puffed out a breath. “Is that right?” she nodded, sucking in her cheeks as she contended to Waverly’s teasing. Well, two can play at that game. 

She turned around back towards the counter, spotting the flour she had used for the dough. _Perfect._ She scooped a big handful of the powder in her hands, turning around and throwing it all over the back of the brunette. 

Waverly froze, surprised at the retaliation. She reached down and grabbed a handful of the fruit Nicole had set out on the table earlier in the evening. She turned and walked back over to the redhead, grabbing her shoulder and turning her around to face her as she shoved the handful of blueberries in her face. “Try these,” she teased, both of them cackling as they grabbed onto each other for leverage. 

Nicole grabbed her own handful of blueberries and copied the smaller girl’s earlier gesture, both of their faces now covered in the blue mush. She spun them around as they held each other and laughed. The older girl reached over for more flour to throw in Waverly’s face and the brunette did the same, both now completely covered in the mess they’d made. 

Waverly wrapped her arms around Nicole’s neck and pulled her down for a kiss, both of them smiling in it after the impromptu food fight. One thing’s for sure, they’re not quite sure how they’re going to explain this one to Jeremy and Robin.

\--------------------

About halfway through the dinner is when the burning question finally got brought up. “Hey… soooo… what’s up with all the flour on the floor?” Jeremy asked hesitantly before taking a bite of his pie. 

Nicole and Waverly both looked up from their places, forks halfway up to their mouths. “Uhhh,” Nicole stuttered, not knowing how to respond. 

Waverly stared blankly at the boy, “Uh, you know… it’s good for the floor?” Waverly tried.

The boys laughed in response, Robin shaking his head. “I can’t believe we even trusted you two to make the food. The fact that it even got done is a miracle,” the taller boy joked.

“Hey!” Waverly laughed in faux offense, “I’ll have you know we got _plenty_ done.”

Jeremy cringed towards his pie. “Ew, gross, I did not need to know that.”

Nicole’s face reddened, immediately catching where the boy’s mind had gone. “Not like that Jer, she just meant cooking and cleaning and setting up,” she laughed. 

Jeremy nodded his head in acceptance, before he heard Waverly speak up. “Or did I?” she winked, causing a light blush to dust over his face. Robin wrapped his arm around the back of his chair, pulling the smaller boy in closer. 

“Maybe we should go huh? Give these two kids some privacy?” Robin offered, picking up on the looks the two girls have been sending each other all night. 

They both blushed, looking down at their plates before Nicole stood and grabbed them. “I guess I’ll start cleaning up then.”

Waverly shook her head and smiled, standing up after her girlfriend as she watched her two best friends walk over to grab their coats. She walked up behind the redhead, wrapping her arms around the girl’s middle and resting her forehead in between her shoulder blades.

Nicole set the dishes in the sink and spun around, wrapping her own arms firmly around the smaller girl’s shoulders and squeezing tight, never wanting to let go. She placed a soft kiss to the crown of the brunette’s head, resting her cheek against it. All of the heartache and confusing feelings and awkward kisses that led up to this moment, all of it felt so incredibly worth it.

Neither girl knew what was in store for them for the rest of high school, or even after as a matter of fact. But one thing they did know was that no matter what life threw at them, they would be together, they would have this, and that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's the end! For now at least ;)  
> I hope you enjoyed, I definitely loved writing it. If you want to see anymore stories of mine, check out my current fic with my friend @ddamaged! It's a super fun one and I love it so much.  
> I also have some fun stories in the works as well, so stay tuned!  
> Thank you to my amazing beta @Haught_Pursuit, she's been amazing dealing with my fuckups and giving me advice, you can thank her for the lovely food fight scene based off "Fried Green Tomatoes" haha  
> As always, please leave a kudos and comment on this, I love being able to see the feedback and talk with you guys!  
> Wanna talk? Follow me on Twitter!  
> @sydthekid41319


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